Discovering Life
by ratgirl407
Summary: IYxYYH When an archeologist position opens up, Kurama comes into the picture. Why does his mentor Kagome hide her past from him? Why has Sesshomaru shown up? When an evil from the past come back everything will reveal itself. KagKur Note:Not completely AU
1. How Soon Can It Come?

**Discovering Life**

**Dedication / Info**

I would like to dedicate this story to BelleDayNight, she had inspired me to write my story based on her story "Treasure Buried Deep Within" It's an awesome story. Thank you so much Belle for letting me base some of my ideas off of yours.

Also on another note, I do not know much about archeologists and history, so I have done a lot of research, so please do not get mad if something sounds off or is incorrect.

Thank you,  
Lindsey

Disclaimer: I don't own anything in this story really. YuYu Hakusho and Inuyasha don't belong to me at all.

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**Chapter 1: How Soon Can It Come?**

Kurama stepped onto the first step of the plane. Slowly walking up step by step he thought about what it would mean to leave Japan, it felt like he was leaving his life behind. '_My mother, friends, work, everything'_ he thought, he was starting a new beginning, something different. '_I could be anyone new, not my old self'_. Taking his bags, this had consisted of just a carry on, and a backpack. Since his other stuff was located at the back of the plane, He got into the ripped seat, which so happened to be next to the pilot. He glanced to the pilot and studied him. Watched how he moved, hopefully he knew how to fly a plane well.

The man, well... he wasn't like a normal person, he was a scrawny man, and somewhat older looking. He wore dirtier clothing, which was ripped, a stain on the front, and smelled as if he hasn't had a descent shower in a long time.

Buckling his seatbelt, Kurama placed the rest of his stuff under the seat, and the little area he had in front of him. Kurama watched as the man fiddled with the knobs, switches, and levers trying to start the plane, eventually after a few times at the controls the engine started up.

The plane circled the area they were to take off from. Getting into the spot, Kurama prayed that he would at least make the plane up into the air. Hearing the engine starting up he prepared himself for take off. Kurama gripped the side of his chair, the plane started moving faster and faster, he had then started to feel himself being pushed back into the chair because of the pressure. They were taking off The small plane raced into the sky, leaving Japan behind, and showing the Sahara desert in the front, '_This is a new place for Kurama Minamino, 22 year old college student'_ He thought gracing his face with a small smile as he watched the clouds pass him by.

He watched the sky for a moment more before settling back into his not so comfortable seat, closing his eyes was the last thing he did before falling asleep.

Some time later, Kurama woke to see the thousands of miles ahead of him. He took a long moment to study the hilly wasteland. The plane hadn't crashed yet, so that was a good sign. _'Thank the heavens Youko has been sleeping all this time, I don't think I would be able to put up with him.' _Kurama thought.

'_Whatever, you should talk. You're the human that I have to put up with, that's annoying in its self.'_

'_Speak of the devil.'_

'_Yeah whatever'_ Youko replied obviously angry at something.

'_Cheer up Youko, no more missions, there will most likely be a puzzle' _Kurama reasoned with the demon.

When the fox demon failed to respond Kurama gave a small smile happy that he had made the great Youko quiet for once.

He started thinking about the trip he was making; well he would call it a trip. His professor for one of his classes; "World History for the Advanced: Legends" had thought that he would be good for an internship. He had thought about it for a long time until he finally came to the conclusion that both he and Youko would take this new experience on. _'I almost regret letting my professor choose my mentor' _Kurama contemplated. His professor had thought that since he was pulling top grades, that he should be placed with a top mentor. He had chosen one of his past students that had studied under him for sometime.

After going to college Kurama would find himself thinking about the old times, when he would do missions with his friends. Even though it was dangerous it was still entertaining.

When he had worked as spirit detectives, sure they would fight a demon here, or do some kind of retrieving, that is if the baby was stupid enough to leave the vault open. That soon got boring after a while. Everyone moved on with their lives, Kuwabara, he was a veterinarian somewhere, since he took a liking to "kittens". '_The surprising thing was that he passed all his classes with A's',_ which was a very difficult area to go into. Yusuke, well he tried many different things, anything from being a bus-boy to a gardener. The last he heard about him, he was a security guard somewhere in London. Hiei, well, no-one really knows what he is up to, not a soul ever really knew much about him.

That was the old life, the life where things didn't matter all that much, when school work was just something that you did on a daily basis, and chores, or in our case, jobs or missions. Sure they were important, but wasn't the future more so?

Looking back to the window, all in it was an endless ocean of deep golden colored sand that caked the earth. Taking his eyes off of the window Kurama glanced to the pilot, he seemed to be in a deep concentration, or that he fell asleep with his eyes open. Deciding that he should do something before he would completely go out of his mind, Kurama reached into his bag to grab a yellow folder with all my information in it. Air plane tickets, passport, and the information on where to go, simple things like that. Flipping it open to a page Kurama glanced across the clean white paper at the black typing.

The information said that he was supposed to meet a Miss Kagome Higurashi when he would arrive. The information that was given on her by his professor wasn't much; all he knew was the basic information, that she was an archeologist, quite a famous one. No-one ever really saw her, and that she had a very small team of people with her, he had been told by his professor that she had taken his class before, she was the only one to get straight A+'s in his class, which was amazing, when himself was working so hard and just got an A. _'Funny, the people in my class think I am too smart for that class. I wonder what the other students would have said about her' _He thought.

After getting the name of his new mentor he has went to every bookstore to find out anything that he could about her. There was almost no personal information about her, there was the basic information, about what things she had discovered, or what types of digs she had worked on. There was nothing ever about her actual private life. He had even visited Koenma to try to get some information when the bookstores had failed, but Koenma had mentioned to him that since 'technically' he could not give him anything since he was not a spirit detective anymore.

That ended that trip.

At one point later he had found out she would speak at a convention. He had at the last minute decided to go and listen to her lecture maybe even greet her. She had never shown up though, it was odd he could never find anything really about her.

Kurama snapped out of his thoughts and glanced at the page. The city that he was supposed to meet her in was Shibam, Its one of the least populated cities.

'_I wonder if there are beautiful girls. You think so? I think so. Actually I know so' _Youko said confidently._ 'There is just something so exotic about this, I love exotic women'_.

'_No Youko we will not be looking for women, we are here to study and to actually learn something'_ Kurama replied flipping to the next page reading something about the town.

'_Why bother, I already know everything'_

'_Okay how large is the Sahara desert?'_ Kurama countered.

'_Umm it's... It's big that's what it is, it's a large area of sand.'_

'_Yes, but not the answer I am looking for, over 3 million square miles.'_

'_That's big' _Youko replied, astonished

'_Yes Youko it's big, now can you leave me in peace and quiet for the rest of my life?' _Kurama replied, obviously annoyed by this point of the conversation. It was like a daily baby sitting job with Youko, it didn't help that they would be away from fighting for a while.

'_Hell naw I'm having too much fun here.'_

'_Youko...'_ Kurama warned, he was not in a good mood, and did not want Youko to ruin what was left of his patience.

'_Fine fine, don't have to be so rude, just wait till next time when you want a girl and you have no clue how to get her, then you will be begging for my advice.'_

'_Yes whatever Youko'_

The connection was lost and Kurama once again looked out of the window only to notice that he could see the tops of buildings. There weren't that many where they were. Only about a couple hundred homes, and a long road for planes to land, nothing fancy, maybe a bar, a large main market, a few other stores, that would have been it though.

The plane's speed slowly decreased, as did the altitude. Closer and closer they got to the ground, and the slower it became to reach it. It seemed so far, but still it wasn't. Then Kurama felt it, his body moving forward with the pressure of the plane hitting its target with the ground, the brakes coming on slowing the plane even more so. He glanced out the window once more, only to notice a dirt road that they had landed on. _'Thank goodness our pilot is a decent flyer' _Kurama glanced once more to the pilot _'even though he doesn't look the part' _he finished his thought.

The plane turned around and slowly glided to where they would make their stop. Soon enough they had come to a final stop and the pilot got out of his seat and left Kurama sitting in his chair. He quickly stuffed what he had in his hands into the bag in front of him. Kurama unbuckled his seat belt and grabbed his two bags that he took on with him. Walking to the back of the plane Kurama got his small suitcase and took the stairs leading outside.

Finally making his way down to the ground Kurama glanced up to see the pilot walking to a small store, he guessed it would be for something to drink before making his way back to wherever. Kurama followed the man his shoes crossing the sandy dirt on the ground, making footprints behind him, once he reached him Kurama tapped on his shoulder to gain his attention.

"Would you have any clue to where a Miss Higurashi would be before you depart?" Kurama asked. '_He looks like he has been here a couple of times'_ he thought; by the way he was talking to the people around he had to have been. Maybe he has talked to her before, so he had to give it a shot.

"Ohhh you mean Kagome? She is a sweet lady; I talked to her three weeks ago. She stays west of here... or is it east? Damn I get so confused between those two directions ha ha ha" he laughed enthusiastically.

'_I wonder how he was able to get here then'_ Kurama thought, it was miracle they had even got here in the first place, well considering the pilot that had flew them.

"I think I was told that she would be coming into town today to pick up a young man, that's what she told me, anyway she said was stupid for doing this, and that the jackass she gets to boss around will work so hard that they will wish they never came, or something along then lines of that." The man looked at his watch in surprise "Well I'm sorry young man, I must head off, and I need to head to the states next." He tipped his worn dusty hat to Kurama then fled for his plane.

"That was pleasant to know" Kurama paused "well I guess I should remain here." Kurama said looking to the shop that was more like a bar. He turned around and faced the west, or was it east. Kurama just shook his head lightly and pulled his things into the makeshift bar "I think I really need a drink after that flight" he said more to his self. Walking into the place he took a seat on the stool in front of the bar counter.

When the man behind the table asked him Kurama gave an order for anything strong. He needed something bad. Once receiving his glass he glanced at it for a moment before taking a swig of it, the hot burn flowing down his throat.

"I can't wait for this adventure to start". He replied, taking another swig of the strong alcoholic drink, getting a few odd stares from the people who looked to be locals.


	2. Future Not so Bright

**Chapter 2: Future Not So Bright**

Kagome looked up from the work she had done in the dirt. As of right then she has been working in the desert, specifically the Sahara Desert. Six months and she was still there, and still rational. _'After seeing the desert so much I would think I would have went insane by now' _she thought, anyone with half a brain would get sick of seeing the same dirty sand day after day.

She had discovered a site that could change everything. They believed t a civilization had once lived in this area, but the ruins were covered by sand and erosion, so it was about a 50/50 chance that they would even get a chance to find anything amazing, but they had a shot. Kagome found things in places that people would have never thought to have looked before, so why not now?

This site near the side of this huge rocky mountain, they believed belonged to the Tuareg, these people were nomadic people of the Sahara desert, mostly in the northern reaches of Mali. They were referred to as "Blue Men of the Desert" these people were called this because they wore robes that were dyed indigo blue. The Tuareg liked to live in small tribes between 30 and 100 family members. They liked to also keep camels, goats, cattle, and chicken which grazed the land. That's why it was so bizarre to find ruins here that could have had Tuareg here, they didn't build them. They built small huts made of grass or whatever they could find. They also suspected that maybe these people were influenced by the Tellem; those people build ruins and caves.

'_We had found proof of both cultures to be here, so maybe they traveled together?' _Kagome thought as she grabbed one of her many tools. '_Maybe after the Tellem's moved on the Tuareg moved into their caves'._ The thing that confused them was why would they be out in this area in the first place? So many questions had to be asked. Why were they here? Was this land once grassy? Also the most important, why did they leave, or did they ever leave in the first place?

Kagome couldn't believe it; she was here, in a different country, away from Japan, away from her past. She still thought about everyone from the past, Shippo, Sango, Miroku, Kirara, Rin, Sesshomaru, any other of her friends that she had met. Of course she remembered Inuyasha; still to this day she missed him.

Everyone in their main group had died in the last fight against Naraku, everyone besides Rin and Sesshomaru. Every once in a while her mind would drift to that say. Kagome quickly shook her head to stop the thinking "It happened such a long time ago" she mumbled.

She glanced up to see the sun had risen above her, showing Kagome had no shadow at the moment, well close to one anyway. It had to be close to noon. Kagome had to pick up someone by the name of Shuuichi Minamino. Grabbing her stuff she stood and started walking to her tent that was set up above the site; the problem is having to walk up the stupid hill to reach it.

She didn't want to take the intern, but her old professor had wanted her to do this for him, he would always call her up, asking her if she could take one of his, as he would call it "The next most intellectual student he ever had under you of course". That really got on Kagome's nerves, was it her fault that she had lived through history? That wasn't her fault; '_I should say not'_, it was because a stupid demon had to drag her into that old well.

She sat on her bed, turning on a light on her desk to provide some light for her. She grabbed a black, leather bound notebook off the top of a couple of books that lay on the corner of the desk. She reached for the pen on the desk. Flipping through it she came across her last journal entry.

Kagome started keeping this when she first went on an excavation. It helps to keep information that she could easily forget. She wrote some key ideas down quickly, like place and times she had saw or uncovered things. Kagome placed her journal down on her desk. Kagome glanced at her space, she liked it. The room couldn't have been any larger than 10 by 13 feet, but that was plenty big for her. It had everything that she needed, a bed, desk, a light, but it mostly had what she would need to survive. There were boxes stacked to one side of the room, boxes of water, and some emergency packers of food. It was the same concept that would be used in the military, the self heating food, even though some people thought it would be disgusting it really wasn't.

She grabbed some currency from in on of her drawers and she walked outside. She could feel the heat from the sun overhead; it seemed like everyday it was hotter and more searing. She could have people like that in this kind of heat. Kagome walked over to a bell that they had placed by her door to her tent. She gave it a ring, giving a huge dong-dong-dong chiming that signaled that anyone working could take a break.

Kagome walked to her jeep, which she could say was hers. She had gotten it from her older brother when she had first come to the desert. It was a little banged up, scratched, and some holes were there from the last time they played extreme darts. _'That game got way out of control'_ Kagome thought with a small smile. What would anyone expect, they were in the desert, and it gets boring fast.

She hopped into the jeep and started the thing up; the only thing about the jeep that she hated was that it was clutch. She couldn't drive the jeep at all before, then she found out one of the people on the excavation knew how to dive one, so they had taught her. They had ended up leaving and then she was left alone as the only person who knew how to drive the vehicle well. Others knew how, but not well.

Kagome took off to the closest town, which happened to be Shibam, which was also very convenient for them. They didn't have to waist gas and time traveling to someplace really far.

While on her way there, she started to think. She thought about what would happen in the near future. She had recently received a letter from Sesshomaru, she had gotten it about two weeks ago he had read:

_Dear Higurashi Kagome,_

_I have recently come across some unexpected information and events in the past month, so I wish to have a meeting so we may talk about this new information. I will be flying into your division, so expect it to be prepared when I arrive there, thank you in advanced. You will be expecting me in a month._

_Sesshomaru, president of Toukijin industries,  
Elder brother_

_Ps. Hey Kagome it's me Rin! Gosh isn't Sesshomaru so arrogant? "Elder brother" Wow that's really stupid, and who really talks like that in a letter to their younger sister? It sounds as if he is making a business letter; you really know that he just wants to come see you, deep deep in his heart, like way far down there, where you can't see anymore because it's so dark, if someone was searching for it, they would stop because its so deep, maybe you would even stop after a while! Anyway, Sesshomaru gave me this letter to mail to you, wow you would have thought by now he wouldn't trust me with anything like that... hee hee ... how completely forgetful can he be? Anyway, I will also be coming to see you, and it will be my 15th birthday! Uh oh, Sesshomaru is coming so I have to end this, bye Kagome hope to see you soon!_

_Love Rin, your loving little sister_

Rin is so cute, _'I will have to remember to get something nice for her birthday'_ Kagome thought. Even though Rin would be 15, the little girl was really much older than that. She had lived through time. Kagome had also lived through 500 years with Sesshomaru.

She had received the letter two weeks ago, so they would be arriving in a week. Whenever Sesshomaru had visited, one of her interns would make a fool of themselves, resulting in them leaving. They couldn't handle how Sesshomaru had acted towards them. They would say that this internship was too difficult.

Seeing the town of Shibam coming into view Kagome thought of where she could find this Shuuichi person. Her first bet would be the air landing site, or more like a road. She didn't think that he would be stupid enough to walk around the area he had never been too. She had had people just like that though, hopefully he was smart enough to know when to listen to her and when to just stay out of her way.

Kagome drove down one of the main streets to the outer part of town; the people here knew her pretty well, so every time she would stop into town she would get a long line of people greeting her. Some people would just start conversations with her randomly asking about her job and talking about what was happening in their lives.

Making it past the people that lined the roads; Kagome made it to the farther part of the town. She saw a man sitting by the market next to the "airport". He had his luggage next to him, three bags. He had bright red hair, it was fairly long, and he looked like he was in good shape. He had a black tight t-shirt and kaki pants, _'much better looking than the last guy'_ Kagome thought referring to the kid who interned last time, acne covered his face, and it looked like he had never had any dental work. It didn't help that he had a crush on her either.

She parked the jeep and got out. The man glanced at her for a moment while she walked towards him. "Who are you?" Kagome asked him, she had a pretty good idea of who he was, just to be sure though.

"Um, well hello my name is Shuuichi Minamino I am here to meet my mentor Miss. Kagome Higurashi, are you she?" he asked her once he stood up from the spot he was sitting. He reached out his hand to shake her hand, but she didn't move.

"Yes" She paused "you're my new intern come now" She replied turning on her heal she walked back to the jeep. He was not here to make friends, he was here to work. It didn't matter if she was nice or not, he would be working. She was having problems on the site, and she didn't need someone hanging around her right then learning from her.

He looked confused to say the least. She had made this impression on her interns. Kagome had this one intern before, her name was Kristy. She had introduced herself, three minuets later the girl was asking the pilot of the plane to take her back home.

She glanced back to see Shuuichi picking up his luggage and started to follow her. "Hurry now, we need to pick up supplies, so grab your things and put it in the back of the jeep or I will leave you to walk." She replied jumping into the jeep. Kagome glanced back to the redhead to notice that he was smiling. _'That's a reaction I haven't had on people'_ Kagome thought shaking her head.

Usually interns are snobby and rude. She was shocked he was at least somewhat of a gentleman. She would have to work him hard though, to decide if he even deserved to be here or not. Hopefully this one was smart enough to be trained well. She couldn't have some kind of rookie there when Sesshomaru arrived. The near future for him is not so bright.


	3. Meetings?

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**Chapter 3: Meetings**

Kurama sat on the bench in the heat. He glanced to the sky and watched how the blue stood out against the yellow of the sand. It was so amazing he could have a chance to see some other place than the skyscrapers in the city.

_'Kurama this is so stupid' _Youko's voice came into his head. Of course the fox would complain.

_'Shut up, we must sit here until someone comes to pick us up' _He replied to the fox.

_'I feel like a child waiting for their mother at school' _

Kurama laughed inside his head, it was true. That's exactly what he was feeling right then.

Kurama didn't respond to Youko but reached inside his bag and pulled out his cell phone. Hopefully there was a connection around so he could make a call. Flipping the phone open he turned it on.

_'What are you doing?' c_ame Youko's voice once again.

_'Seeing if I received any calls' _he responded glancing to the screen of the phone. He received a call from his mother, of course. She would want to know if he had made it safe and sound. Kurama looked at the other missed call. _'Great' _he thought instantly knowing the number.

_'Who called?' _

_'Koenma' _Kurama answered pressing delete to the voicemail message that he had left.

_'Why would he be calling? It's not like we would be getting any missions' _The demon reasoned

_'He is wondering where we are, I never told him where we would be going. He must be worried that we would be escaping to someplace we are not supposed to be.' _Kurama thought while he dialed his mother's phone number. _'We don't do most of the missions but still Koenma wants to know where everyone is usually at, well besides Hiei. He would prefer not to deal with him.' _Kurama laughed, but stopped when his mother answered the phone. After letting her know he was alright he closed the phone and turned it off.

He sat there for a while longer until he picked up the sound of something coming closer to where they sat. It sounded like an older vehicle, like a jeep of some kind. Kurama glanced to the side where he noticed a jeep had pulled up from. A woman got out of the jeep once it stopped, and she started to walk towards him. As Youko would put it she was beautiful.

_'I would say she was sexy'_ commented Youko.

_'Yes she is quite beautiful isn't she Youko'_ He commented back, he was way to into his thoughts about her to notice was Youko had actually said.

The woman couldn't have been much older than them, well at least older than them in human years. She was dresses in shorts, and a short sleeved shirt, a tan color with hints of dirt spread across it. Her skin flawless, it was tanned to a nice bronze from, he guessed, well from being in the desert. Her body was well toned, but her petite form still held all the right curves. Her hair was pulled back up on her head, but even though it was up he could still tell it was at least waist length. Her dark tresses shined a vivid midnight blue. Her eyes locked onto his, and wow her eyes were something, they looked as if they could read into the very depth of a person and pick them apart piece by piece. Besides that point though, her eyes held a lovely color within them, a blue tint mixed into a deep chocolate brown, but they shined. Her eyes stayed locked onto his, he couldn't tell exactly what she was thinking but he had a feeling that she knew his thoughts.

She started to walk towards me once she got close enough she spoke "Who are you?" It wasn't quite the question I expected.

"Um, well hello my name is Shuuichi Minamino I am here to meet my mentor Miss. Kagome Higurashi, are you she?" He asked her once he stood up from the bench he was sitting on. To be polite he reached out his hand to shake hers. She didn't move to do so though.

"Yes" She paused "You're my new intern come now" She replied turning on her heal she walked back to the jeep. He followed her with his gaze for a moment, and then he went and grabbed his bags. _'Was it just me or was she a tad cold. She reminded me of Hiei a bit'_

_'Okay Kurama, do something'_ Youko replied in his head.

_'What am I supposed to do? She basically treated me like a bug she stepped on'_ he growled back to Youko

_'Okay, I take that back, don't do anything. She had a point and I grant her permission to keep on being cold' _the kitsune laughed obviously getting amusement from my embarrassment.

He grabbed all of his bags and followed her to the jeep. "Hurry now, we need to pick up supplies, so grab your things and put it in the back of the jeep or I will leave you to walk." She responded jumping into the jeep. All Kurama did though was smile. As long as he was away from school and work, he was happy.

He reached the jeep and threw his stuff into the back. He hopped into the front sear to see her fumbling with the controls of the vehicle. _'Great a clutch, I really hope that I would never have to drive this thing' ._

_'What scared of a little jeep, aww Kurama cant drive a simple car' _Youko taunted the redhead.

_'I am not afraid Youko, I just wouldn't prefer to drive it that's all'_. Kurama countered back, the womansitting beside him somehow got the jeep running, and they were now pulling away from the landing site.

_'That's geek talk for I can't drive, how sad Kurama, its going to be so boring here with you, but if all the other girls looks like this beauty that is sitting next to us I can guarantee that I will have much more fun here.'_ He could just feel Youko smirking.

_'Don't say things like that Youko, we are not here to try to pick up girls. We are actually here to learn something'_ Kurama replied countering the foxes comment, Kurama silently glanced at some of the people they were passing by.

_'Who says that when we do that we couldn't go scouting for girls? Huh Kurama?'_ the fox replied.

Kurama was about to say something back when he was snapped from his thoughts, the dark haired girl beside him was trying to get his attention.

"Yes?" He responded she had her eyes set on the small road, while her fingers gripped the wheel tighter while they went over a particular bumpy spot.

"Did your professor give you a note for me?" She questioned. Kurama quietly nodded once she gave him a sideways glance.

"Yes" he responded reaching for his backpack behind his seat. Kurama brought it up in front of him and started to dig threw the stuff he had. Finally finding the envelope he passed it to her open hand.

One she grabbed it she shoved it in between the two seats. "There is the information from your class in there. Your professor wrote me to let me know what your specific expertise was while you were in his class" she spoke. "So basically I know everything about how you are doing in that class, I don't want to hear it from you. I don't know if you would be lying to me, so I wanted a written note from who would know you best in that class." She finished her long explanation.

Kurama glanced back to Kagome; she was staring blankly in front of her to the road. "I see" Kurama responded. Hopefully she wouldn't find anything negative; he didn't think she liked him that much anyway.

_'You got told on my your teacher, pathetic' _

_'Oh of course I'm the pathetic one, and here I have my own body' _Kurama countered the demon. Yes it was a low blow to the ecological Youko, but he would get over it.

Youko never responded, maybe he had hurt him more than he had thought. After hours on the small plane and fighting with him, he was sick of hearing Youko's voice.

Kurama took this time to study Kagome, she seemed deep in thought. Studying the road a head of her, Kurama didn't want to interrupt her but his curiosity for the best of him. "Where are we headed?" he spoke to the woman driving.

She didn't answer him for a few moments. He almost thought that she didn't even hear him. He noticed that she tipped her head slightly to the side and continued to stare at the road. Kurama studied her but was snapped out of his gazing when she took a sharp turn to the right. "We are paying a visit to one of my friends and business partners, he owns a store here, and we buy our supplies from him, like water, tools, food, so fourth" she answered him.

Kurama nodded and took a long look at her. Something was off about her. He couldn't put his finger on it. What he got from here so far was that she was not to excited about having him be there.

It was odd, he had tried to find everything out about his mentor before he got there, ended up finding out nothing. Besides the fact that she was a wonderful archeologist, and that she had taken the same type of class he had, including the same professor. Now that he had met her, it wasn't like his dreams had been crushed that she wasn't a little nicer, but he had higher expectations for her personality.

_'She is one of the best archeologists in the world though' _Kurama thought. This time though Youko had responded to his comment rather than ignore him.

_'How come she is so young though? I would have thought she would be older. I'm not complaining though, she is hot' _Youko laughed.

_'I'm not too sure' _Kurama answered pausing to think about the question. He stole a glance to Kagome for a split second and returned his gaze to the people who were in town shopping or doing chores. _'My only guess would have been that she graduated high school a couple of years early and sped though college.' _Kurama answered the demon _'I had read that she interned with a lot of other famous archeologists before she graduated college, which helped her get her own start.'_

_'Makes sense' _Youko dragged out thinking of the information that he was now told. _'She must be a lot smarter than you Kurama if she graduated before you could' _he chuckled at the redhead's misfortune.

Kurama slightly rolled his eyes ignoring the comment that Youko had made. After all the years that the fox demon had talked to him, he grew to ignore a lot of the things that he would say.

Kurama then noticed that the jeep was slowing down near a small store that was on the outside of town. It looked cluttered from the outside, and most likely inside as well. The store had some random objects sitting along the small walkway in front of the door.

"Here we are" Kurama heard Kagome say, as she stopped the jeep in front of the store. She turned off the vehicle and grabbed her small backpack from behind her seat.

Kurama watched as his new mentor got out of the jeep after grabbing the keys from the jeep, he saw her start to enter the store, and he decided he would quickly follow her. "This is going to be an experience" Kurama mumbled following behind his mentor.


	4. Hiro

* * *

**Chapter 4: Hiro**

Kagome walked into the store; she needed to talk to Hiro. Hiro was a long time friend of hers; they had met a long time ago when she was still searching for the Shikon Jewel. Yes they only met for a short time, but Hiro had soon grown on her, and the whole group. They had met when traveling to Naraku's castle. He was similar to Miroku, but that was an understatement _'The little pervert' _Kagome thought smugly.

Hiro had wanted the Shikon shards too, like any other demon that was around. After seeing who actually carried the shards he thought twice about taking them. Hiro could never steal from a lady, that's what Kagome liked about him; he was a gentleman _'Sort of anyway'_ Kagome thought. They had ended up reuniting back when she was still in college; he had disappeared for about 200 years. It was quite an event meeting him again

Kagome had talked with Hiro after meeting him that day, he had given her his side of the story, which was far more entertaining then her side.

Hiro had started off his story mentioning that he was looking around campus for girls, of course he didn't need the education, but he had said that it was a great way to meet the chicks around campus. He had been styling with his 'sweet' t-shirt and 'awesome' torn jeans. _'It was his words not mine'_ Kagome thought remembering Hiro's amazing story telling skills, she had to roll her eyes while he had started his story.

He had continued with his story to mention small details about running his fingers threw his sandy blonde hair, thinking about how it wouldn't be that hard to find a girl. Hiro did indeed have a lot of practice on the ladies, unlike Miroku. He had leaned against the brick wall near the steps of the campus graduate library. Waiting for his next challenge, someone who would be able to entertain him.

All those girls were either too easy to persuade into his bed, or that they were too eager.

Hiro had then explained that he saw a dark figure enter the corner of his dark purple eyes. He had turned to that direction to see a girl, who as he put it "Hot!" _'It was funny how he described me though; Hiro had mentioned that just from looking at my backside that I was hot. He mentioned how my hips swung to the rhythm that I walked, and my hair was jet black and glossy. Also my petite figure was toned and fit. Which I believed none of those things actually described me well'_

He had walked up behind the girl and tapped her shoulder "Excuse me miss, I couldn't happen to miss that you were exceptionally gorgeous, and I would love it if you agreed to be mine?"

He gave a brilliant smile when the girl turned around, but it quickly turned into a frown when he saw her hand coming in contact across his cheek; that was unexpected. Looking back up to the girl he saw her standing shocked, _'Hiro had mentioned that he was curious why I was shocked'_ Kagome thought as she remembered the rest of the conversation that they both of them had.

"Hi-Hiro? Is that you?" she asked in a hopeful voice.

"Yes that's my name, but why do you ask?" he asked, looking to the woman's face for the first time, why did she look so familiar?

"Kagome! Is that really you?" he shouted out. She leaped into Hiro's arms and he swung her around. "You're just as lovely as ever" he said as he placed her back on the ground.

"And your just as handsome as I remember Hiro" She had answered.

"Why not more handsome?" he added with a charming smile.

"Okay okay Hiro _more_ handsome then" she said smiling.

"Well if that is the case that you think I am so handsome why don't you take me up on my offer to be mine then?"

"Same old Hiro I see, I swear you're just as bad as Miroku" She sighed out while turning and picking up her dropped bag and walking off.

"Yeah yeah like Miroku, wait... What's that supposed to mean?" He yelled out while trying to catch up to Kagome, who had run off.

That memory always made her laugh. He came up with so many excuses to cover up the slap mark; he even said that he slept on his hand at night and somehow left a mark; _'yeah as if anyone would believe that. Oh, wait I take that back, that one blond bimbo believed him'._

Hiro had wanted to travel; he wanted to see the outside world. When she had offered him to travel with her, he instantly agreed. Instead of being on the team Hiro had decided to own a shop in wherever she would be staying in for the time being. That's where she would always get her supplies; she was Hiro's most frequent shopper.

Kagome walked into the small shop which greeted her with odd objects hanging from the ceiling and walls. Kurama trailed behind Kagome, he glanced around at the objects in awe, it was shocking how many things could fit in the small space. Hiro liked to keep his shop cluttered. While Kurama glanced at a case which held jewelry Kagome walked up to the front desk, and sat upon it. _'One, two, three'_.Kagome thought in her head before yelling "Hiro get your ass out here this instant!"

"I'm here my beautiful Kagome!" A new man entered the room trying to catch his breath. He leaned one hand on the counter while the other on his knee. "Wait...hold on... Okay... wait... yeah... I'm good now" He replied finally standing up strait. The man gave a dashing smile "Well the great Kagome had come to grace me with her presence. What will you be needing now? A kiss maybe?" He asked while he placed his arms on the counter and looked up at her in a hopeful glow "You know sitting on my desk, that's so whorish of your Kagome" He gave her a sly smile "I like it" he added licking his lips.

Kagome looked to the man and rolled her eyes "Well I don't think the kiss is going to happen but I need some stuff, lets see, gasoline, a pike, shovel, no make that two shovels, some water, preferably bottled, and without the cracks in it this time, lets see" she listed, while numbering them with her fingers ignoring the looks that both men were giving her. Kurama giving a confused look, and Hiro giving a small sexual smile. "I will need some potatoes, we just ran out. Let's see, oh yeah! Could you get me some of that chewing stuff, you know the kind, where you mix the flavor in the fabric and then you chew it? Wow that stuff is good" she said with a dreamy face plastered on.

"Anything else Kagome, some stolen artwork, grenades, me?" he listed writing down what she needed on a notepad.

Snapping out of her dream faze she looked back to Hiro "What?"

"Me?" Hiro asked nervously.

"No no no, before that. Stolen artwork and weaponry?" She asked "Hiro I thought I knew you better than that" she scolded him. "Now what kind is the artwork and where did you get the grenades?" She asked.

"Lets see, I have a couple of Da Vinci's, I have a Raphael in there, oh I just got a new Botticelli in just yesterday, then the grenades I stole from some Americans." He listed.

"I am disappointed in you Hiro" Kagome said, but then she moved closer to his face, she dropped her voice to a whisper "I am disappointed that you didn't think of selling those on the black market, come on Hiro what are you five? You should know by now that you get more money from the black market" she giggled. _'Everytime we have to joke about that, it is funny though, he always thinks something new to 'steal' for whenever I come around' _She thought smiling, she knew Hiro would never steal anything, he was too honest.

"I know I will next time okay" he said happily as Kagome moved back to her original spot sitting strait on his desk.

"Oh I don't think I will need you Hiro, I already got a guy to take care of, and I don't need another one" she said motioning to the redhead that had been looking around and now was looking at the pair strangely.

"Oh?" Hiro questioned. He scanned the room and glanced to the kid in the corner. He was maybe a little younger than himself. _'His aura is familiar, I wonder if he has had a past life'_ he looked back up to Kagome _'I wonder if she has noticed yet, that he is part demon'_. Hiro glanced back at the kid and called him to come closer. While Kurama made his way to him he kept his eyes on him "What's your name kid?"

Kurama looked at the man named Hiro. He could tell he was a demon, '_but what Kind?' _That little bit of information was blocked from his senses. "My name is Shuuichi Minamino, or if you like Kurama" He stated reaching his hand out for the man to grab.

_'That guy seems familiar, I just can't think of it. Also he seems a little too close to Kagome; maybe you should do something Kurama.'_ Youko said.

_'Youko, how did you get out? Besides we have no claim on her' _

_'What do you mean we have no claim over her? Just look at her Kurama, she's wonderful, so wonderful that she is made for us'_ Youko replied merrily.

_'Youko that's not true'_ Kurama finally said tuning out Youko and focused at the conversation at hand.

"Well Kurama" he gave him a glare after shaking the new man's hand. "Why did you travel all the way out here huh?" Hiro questioned while he sat on his stool behind the counter.

"Well let's say I wanted new adventures" he replied while he walked up to the counter. He leaned against it gently. "I don't really know myself why I came out here, maybe to get away from my old life, maybe start a new" he said as his green eyes glanced to Kagomes form. Was that really him that did that did her mean for it to sound as if he wanted to be with Miss. Higurashi? Or maybe it was just for a brief moment that he let Youko slip out.

Hiro noticed that glance that Kurama stole at Kagome; he could tell that something was going to happen between them. "Fair enough of an answer" he replied getting up from his seat to head in the back. "Hey Kurama come help me" he yelled as he picked up two heavy boxes and started to walk out the doorway "grab some boxes and we will take em' out to the jeep" he replied as he pushed the load he had into the back of the jeep. He saw Kurama come out with a couple more boxes.

They loaded about twenty-five boxes varying in size into the back. Kagome stood outside while Hiro shut the back of the jeep. He glanced back to her. "Hey Kagome?" he said with a smirk in his eye.

Kagome looked back behind her to see Hiro looking at her strangely "Yes?" she asked cautiously. Kurama stood only a few feet behind her looking at Hiro strangely.

"You forgetting something?" he asked pulling out a small bag from his pocket. Before anyone had a chance to notice Kagome had the bag in her hand and was walking to the jeep.

"Thanks Hiro" she replied blissfully, but turned around and walked back to him. She quickly pecked him on his cheek "There you go you got your kiss, are you happy now?" she said throwing him a smile.

"Oh yes Miss Kagome!" he yelped.

_'That's it I am going to kill that bastard'_ Youko yelled _'First off I am going to cut off his head , then I am going to chop his arms and legs into little pieces, then I am gonna squeeze all the blood out of his body and-'_

_'Youko just shut up, she is not yours okay, and I doubt that she is with Hiro either'_ Kurama argued.

"Mr. Minamino, we are leaving" Kagome said as she started the jeep.

Kurama started to walk towards her, he passed Hiro. "You hurt her you answer to me" was all he heard from the demon. Turning around he noticed that the man still had a smile placed on his face, but ever so slightly he could see that his eyes were showing warning. He heard Kagome ask for him again so he turned back around and got in the jeep. Hiro couldn't possibly mean that he wanted to be with Kagome, '_did he?_ _Great because of Youko I now have someone watching me'_.

Kagome started to drive off as she waved back to the shopkeeper, Kurama turned around too, and all he saw was Hiro smiling and waving goodbye, as if nothing had occurred.

Hiro stood there waving as Kagome and Kurama left, he saw the man turn around to glance at him, he looked confused. Well to bad for him, he should have been paying more attention. He saw the car drive down the road; he finally walked away when it was almost out of sight.

He could tell that those two were going to have some kind of a bond, all he could say was, that guy better be careful, he was walking on broken glass already. Kagome was like a little sister to him, and he didn't want her to be hurt again by someone else, like how that dumb dog did.

Kagome was still hurting, after all these years, the pain she felt from back then still haunted her, '_hell it still haunts me to this day and I didn't even play a large part in the whole thing'_.That Kurama fellow though, he was quite strange, he seemed so familiar. "Oh well, the answers always come in time, they always do" he said walking back into his shop whistling an unknown tune.


	5. Talking Reveals Answers

* * *

**Chapter 5: Talking Reveals Answers**

It was always good to take a long nice drive in the spring or summer, but this was ridiculous. It was a good 98 degrees out here, and no sign of it getting any cooler. Kurama glanced to Kagome's direction, spotting her in deep concentration. Since he had no clue about this type of work that's she did he had thought it right to pick her mind for some information about what he would be doing here.

"Uh Miss Kagome?" Kurama questioned nervously. He really didn't expect her to respond but she surprised him by speaking

"Yes Shuuichi?" She responded.

"Well, yes I wanted to ask you about this place, my instructor never really gave me a heads up when I accepted to do this" Kurama responded feeling somewhat dumb for asking. "Well I mean, he never really told me much about what you do here, I didn't really know what to expect"

"That man..." She said, an edge in her voice "He never tells anyone anything when they are about to come, afraid that they would back out... Well that's what he told me. Here is your first lesson when you're here" She said glancing in his direction for a split second then turning back "Never ever listen to that man again, he knows nothing. One of the nicest people I have ever met but he never tells the whole story" she heaved a long sigh. She took a nice long breath in and started "Well let's see here" she told herself more so than to him. "I came here roughly seven months ago; the Tuareg was what lead me here, fascinating people really, do you know about them?" she questioned him.

"Aren't they are nomadic people? What would they be doing in the desert, they live in the grassy regions." He answered her.

_'Kurama those people used cattle and animals, they would have to be in a grassy area, and by the looks of this place it hasn't been that way in a long time'_ Youko replied getting into this puzzle.

_'Yes I know, it will be quite a puzzle for the great Youko wont it?'_ Kurama replied, a hint of teasing lacing his voice.

_'Maybe I won't have to have a girl to entertain me here'_ He stated a light chuckle in his tone.

"That's what I thought too when I first came here, these people were usually in grassy areas, to help with their livestock, and also there homes. They also liked to move around. I am trying to find out if the terrain changed while they were there. They were in some caves on the side of the mountain, what we believe the Tellem's built. We cant figure out why they moved to an area that was non grassy, so we need to find out what happened to them, where they went, or if they never left, and also what might have caused that to happen. There are just so many unanswered questions to be answered, I have to find out." She finished her summarized speech.

"That helps out a lot, I guess you have quite a discovery on your hands don't you Miss Kagome" with a bright smile on his face he replied to her. They really did have quite a puzzle on their hands.

"Yes hopefully I will" she glance ahead to see that they were nearing the site. "Get your stuff ready we will be back soon" she told the redhead.

"Yes Miss. Kagome" Kurama replied back grasping his backpack in front of him. He had seen the site coming but he didn't dare correct her that he had indeed seen it. What would the next few months bring to him though, would he really learn anything here? He hoped so. There was a jolt when the jeep came to a sudden stop next to some other equipment and boxes. He saw her jump out so he quickly over the side of the jeep. He got out too and heaved his bag over the side.

She had already started walking in the opposite direction of the jeep; the boy actually hurried and caught up with her. She turned around to get a better look at him so she could talk. "We will get your stuff and settle you into your camping area, it will be next to mine since you are my responsibility, you will have to be near me, so don't screw up" she said then turned back around picking up her pace and walked to an area that had many tents and people sitting around. There was a larger tent further off from everyone else's that she looked like she was heading to.

Kurama followed her into the large tent, she took that backpack that she had carried and threw it next to a bed that was towards the back. She grabbed a chair at the desk and dragged it to in front of the bed, making a scratching sound on the ground. Kagome sat on the bed leaning back on her hands that were on the bed. She looked at Kurama; he could have sworn her eyes were laughing at him by the look on his face probably

"Well I thought you wanted to pick at my mind, since I am supposed to be teaching you something here right? Well if you don't want to that's fine with me" she said stretching her body, Youko did happen to notice that her shirt did rise a bit when she did that.

She started to get off the bed but quickly Kurama exclaimed a "no" to stop her from moving any more. _'Great, I made a fool out of myself'_ Kurama thought as she looked at him with a scrunched up look of confusion.

_'You were a fool before you even got here human' _Youko responded.

"Okay" she said shrugging and motioning me to sit.

_'Smooth move Einstein, ask her if she is single'_ Youko sneaked in.

Kurama went to sit down glancing around the tent; he saw many types of things and knickknacks, like for a quick example, many boxes. Some filled with water bottles, other with food packets, and even some with dirty old tools, there was also a sword in the corner. Thinking nothing of it he continued to let his eyes wander across the room, glancing to the corner of her bed he spotted a leather bound notebook, it was black and looked warn. Some people might have considered this a journal but he knew better. That was probably where she kept her notes at. When he was still working for Spirit World he had one similar to it, he had it to keep battle tactics of enemies and other information about Demon World.

"Well if we could start it out, let's start with a simple question how did you get into this type of field?" he asked, trying to get comfortable in the hard chair.

"Well let's see, why I got into this field" she pondered the question to herself "That would probably because I love my history, maybe so much that you could say that I had lived through it" she added at the end a light chuckle.

"I know I heard your name from somewhere before, besides books and papers that I have read. I just can't remember where from" He said searching his mind from something. "Did you ever do to a convention about six months ago?" he asked her, '_she might have been at that Archeology convention I attended for extra credit in class'_.

"Nope, didn't attend one in the past year. I did however send some people for me to speak at one convention; I wrote some articles and sent my best people to read them". She remembered that problem, she and Sesshomaru had a bet going, and they had to beat each other at chess. If she won she didn't have to go to the stupid convention, if he won she had to go. He had won, but oh, was she good at finding loop holes. She did go, just not in person, she sent a several papers and students of hers to go. Boy was Sesshomaru angry.

"I believe I remember an article you wrote. I think it was about the History of Feudal Japan, was it not?"

_'That was why her name seemed so familiar, but there is still something else about her that seems familiar, I know I have heard her name said somewhere else.'_ Kurama replied to Youko, for some reason he could remember that name 'Kagome' but it wasn't from the article, sure he remembered the intelligent thesis that she had written about. For some strange reason though, him and Youko both remember this young ladies name from somewhere else other than a piece of paper and books.

_'Yes there is something that she is hiding. I believe something about her past'_ Youko replied while continuing _'her name sounds like a name I heard from Demon World' _The demon finished.

Ending the conversation Kurama brought his attention back to Kagome, while the conversation was going on in his head she looked as if she was contemplating about something

"Well what I meant was when you wrote that theory about trying to prove that demons were actually real, and were good not evil like most believe, stating about your finds that you had seen and-"she cut me off when she gracefully raised her and hand to quiet me.

"Yes I did write that. Most people believing I was making it up" she paused while she placed her hands in her lap. "More and more people thought that demons weren't real. I wanted to bring back the truth. Some even said that there would be no chance in hell that they would even be good even if they did exist." She stopped talking.

"But you had proof that showed it could be true, why wouldn't anyone believe you?" Kurama asked her getting angry, not at her but for the idiotic people who that that this lady was lying when she was telling the truth. There were demons on this earth everyday, even more so back in the past.

She had exquisite ideas in her paper she had written for the History and Archeology Convention. He had attended only to find that someone has written something about demons, rarely heard of in the history field. It caught his attention, so Kurama decided to go to that seminar only to find that the writer could not attend. '_I would have never thought that the person that caught my attention would be my new mentor'_.

"Let me ask you something Shuuichi" Kagome stated more than asked.

"Yes Miss Kagome?" Kurama replied back, he noticed her eyes harden.

"Do you believe in demons?" she asked him, keeping a steady hold on him with her eyes.

_'Well she was direct'_ Youko answered _'Tell her yes Kurama'_ he pushed.

_'Yes she was direct. I don't know what kind of answer she is looking for though.'_ I think Youko got out for a split second because the next thing he had remembered was blurting out 'yes'.

"There aren't that many people nowadays that believes in myths, most people think it's made up, never researching their pasts" she said sighing.

"Is there anyone else on the site that believes in them?" He questioned, if Kagome believed in demons then others would most likely too wouldn't they?

"Well some I do not know about, but most do hold the same ideas as myself" she answered smoothly.

Kurama accepted the answer nodding at her sentence; at least he knew to be extra careful around these people so that they do not find out that he was truly a demon.

"May I ask you another question Miss Kagome?" Kurama pushed once more.

He watched her eyes as hers locked onto mine. "I guess that's fine, what's your question?" she asked as she sat a little straighter where she was sitting.

"Where did you find your information for your theory?" sure it sounded like an innocent question but when she heard it he could have sworn that he saw a look of shock blush across her face.

"Well... I was doing some research in a place around Japan, and well... I found some scrolls that had something written about demons in them" she stuttered.

_'Kurama, I don't believe this girl is telling the full truth, I remember that theory, there isn't a way that she could have wrote something like that by just reading a simple scroll, it was far too detailed'_ Youko claimed.

_'Your right, I think she is hiding the truth to where she got that information Youko_'

"Shuuichi?" he heard someone question, Kurama had realized that it was Kagome that snapped him out of his thoughts. Dropping the conversation with Youko Kurama focused his attention back to Kagome.

He saw her stand from her spot on the bed and grab her backpack. "We should get you settles in your room" she replied as she grabbed some extra things and stuffed them in her bag. "Like I had said before you will be staying in the tent next to mine, since you are now my responsibility" she said once again making her way towards a door that was against one of her walls, she walked through it.

Grabbing his things Kurama quickly hurried to the door that she was entering, it seemed to be a connecting tent, looking around he noticed that this was almost a replica of Kagomes room, but a bit smaller, for him though it would be perfectly fine.

"This shouldn't be a problem that our rooms connect, this was the only room I could have had you in, it used to be storage but we cleaned it out" she said walking further in the room.

"Its no problem at all, its great thank you" Kurama replied as he studied the room, it had a bed, desk, some chairs, then a couple of tables, it was fine, some odd reason though, he felt a calming comfort in this room.


	6. New Friends and Enemies

* * *

**Chapter 6: New Friends and Enemies**

Kagome was shocked by his questioning of Youkai, and how she had found out the information. '_I stalled; I wish I could have been somewhat more prepared with the information. There was no way I could have told the truth. Yeah as if this would sound right 'Yeah I lived in the feudal era, I fought demons, and all that good stuff!' Yeah like anyone would really believe that, some demons that live in this era are still wary of that idea'_.

"Okay, anyway" She added looking around the room to make sure everything is in order. "You should be okay with what is in here now, if you do need something you can ask me" she said turning back to look at him. He was inspecting the room, there wasn't much, a bed, desk, night stand, a chair in the far corner, it was livable.

"Why are you, well, more pleasant to me?" he asked, "Well what I mean is that-"

"I get what you mean Shuuichi" she said cutting him off. She walked across the room and sat gracefully in the small chair in the corner. "That was somewhat of a test" she continued.

"A test?" Kurama asked not understanding what she meant by it. He walked over to his bed and sat on it listening intently. Like a little kid listening to a bed time story.

"Well lets see… how should I put it?" she asked herself pondering the question; a few moments later she opened her mouth to answer "well I get so many inters that I have to give them some sort of a test" she said looking to Shuuichi, when she received a nod of understanding she continued. "If they do decide to come here, some think its going to be a piece of cake, when it really isn't. If I'm hard on them in the beginning then it will only sift through the weaker out of the bunch, that way I don't have to waste my time on someone who won't even be able to handle it in the first place."

"So how many people have actually made it this far?" Kurama questioned.

"Hmm, well I would say three, one being a boy named William from America. There was also another girl named Isabel from London" she said her anger slightly raising a bit "that girl, urg! She was such a nuisance; she took the fancy to calling me 'Kaggy'. She would always say 'Oh Kaggy why is it hot here?' Oh yeah it's the desert hello 'Oh Kaggy why can't we ever stay at a hotel?' Kaggy this Kaggy that! You would have thought that she would have used my full name once in a while, but no, she had to go and be annoying" Kagome said fuming. "That boy was alright, if he ever learned to not hit on a girl while he was here. Gosh you would have thought that he came here to get laid, thank Kami that he never hit on me." She concluded her ranting.

Kurama noticed that he fists were clenched so tightly that her knuckles were turning almost completely white. "Miss Kagome?" he questioned hesitantly, hopefully he wasn't as annoying at those two, even though he was never in the position where a woman hated him. He had this fan club back home to prove that point.

Being snapped from her thoughts she glanced up from the floor that her eyes were set on; to Shuuichi that looked a little jumpy at the moment. "Yes?" she said irritation still lingering in her voice. She looked at him to see his eyes set lower; she looked down to see her hands clenched. She loosened her grip and stretched her fingers and knuckles out.

"You said that there were three, you only mentioned two people though." He said still a little startled by his mentor's anger.

"Your first lesson, archeology isn't always what is in front of you" she smiled a bit as a look of concentration spread across his face. "The answers won't always be laying in the sand waiting for you to dust it off"

He thought for a bit then realization dawned on him "Im the other person" he said.

She nodded her head yes then began speaking once again "Yes, out of everyone I have had here, I like you the best" she said coolly "you at least care about learning something here unlike the others who have showed their faces here"

_'She does like us'_ Youko said slyly, making his presence now known.

_'Youko I hardly think that is what she meant by that'_ Kurama debated.

_'No she likes us the best, that's a start for us to really open her eyes to the world around her, and I mean world as in us'_ Youko laughed in Kurama's head.

_'This is going to be one hell of a trip'_ Kurama said to himself, forgetting all about Youko being able to hear his thoughts. Getting a 'humph' as a response he went back to the conversation that Kagome was having with him.

"So Shuuichi" she continued "I will let you get unpacked, and give you some time to rest, I know that the planes aren't that pleasant" she gave a small chuckle, remembering the time she had to ride in some of the smaller planes to get to remote places.

Before Kurama had a chance to answer he heard shouting from outside and people running about. Turning to the doorway that led to Kagomes room he saw a man; he was covered in sand and looked to have a cut near his hairline, on account there was blood dripping from his forehead.

"Kagome" he exclaimed running further into the tent, ignoring Kurama completely and heading straight for Kagome.

"Nick? What is it? What happened?" she frantically questioned jumping out of the chair to help the poor man. She grasped his shoulders and steadied him; she asked more forcefully "Nick what happened?"

"The- the passage it collapsed" he said "Sabrina and Mathew went back into it ta get something they forgot" he said out of breath, catching it he continued with his story "June and I went back into get em'" he said.

"Are they alright?" she asked frantically sitting on the ground next to him.

"Sabrina has a broken arm and cant move er' leg, then Mathew some cracked ribs we think. Other than that nothing" he said shifting his weight to a different position to make it somewhat more comfortable.

"This doesn't look like nothing" Kagome said touching a spot near the cut on his head.

"I'm fine" he said chuckling "Just 'a scratch".

"And how did June fair?" she questioned helping nick to her room and placing him on her bed.

"She's fine" he said lying down on her bed.

"Damn…" she said frustrated. Walking to the doorway she turned back to see Shuuichi "I will be back later to explain some things" she said. Glancing back to Nick, she opened her mouth to talk "Nick, you get that wound cleaned up, find someone who can help. I want you taken of, after you get that handled I want you to go back to your tent and get some rest" she paused thinking if there was anything else that needed to be done. "Oh, I know you won't like it, but please do it. Go and find Aden, get him to take the jeep and get Hiro, have Aden tell him that he needs to bring his medical supplies, and that its an emergency." She said then hurried outside to take control of the situation.

Kurama stood there registering what he just saw. He turned to that man that lay on the bed. The man called Nick was bleeding out of a slash by his hair.

Nick glanced to the man standing looking worried, smiling a bit he spoke "G'day mate I'm Nick" he said "I'm guessin' you're the new intern here" he laughed pulling himself up a bit. "Hey, how well do ya know first aid?" he questioned the red headed man looking quite puzzled at the scene that just developed before him.

Kurama stood there inspecting the man. He looked fit, he had dark hair, and he was tan, but being in the desert would most likely do that to anyone. Realizing that he was talking he focused his attention to him "well, uh yes, I know first aid pretty well" he answered the man named Nick. Glancing around the room he spotted a first aid kit by the desk, grabbing it he brought it back over to the bed. _'Well I should know how to heal a cut' _Kurama thought, he couldn't necessarily heal him with his herbs or anything, but he did know how to use a first aid kit.

Nick moved in a better position. "Good ol' Kagome always keeps those first aids handy everywhere" he chuckled while Kurama opened the kit and started to clean the wound. "So what's your name mate?" he asked looking at the red head.

"I'm Shuuichi, but my friends call me Kurama" he answered getting another cloth from the kit and wetting it with water that was placed in there also. "So what exactly happened out there?" he asked Nick. It was odd; it seemed like he could talk to this man easily, there was something comforting about him.

"Well bloke" Nick dragged out. "I reckon Kagome will probably tell ya what happened out there later on, in a nutshell though; two of our members out there went back into one of the passageways we discovered. In one of them was a small crack, well that wee crack got worse and it caused the rock to crumble and some of that rock fell onto them." He said while Kurama finished wrapping his injury

Standing up, nick stuck his hand out to Kurama "Bonzer! Well thanks a lot Kurama." Nick said.

"It was no problem Nick" Kurama shook his hand "You going to be okay there?" he asked.

"Well I outta be now" he said stretching a bit. "Hey ya want to come with me to see Aden, and then we can have a look around." He asked Kurama.

He put away the first aid kit; then threw the gauze away in a trash can. He heard Nick ask if we would like to come with him. Kagome wouldn't want him wandering would she?

_'Come-on Kurama, I want to head out and check out the surroundings'_ Youko said eager to get out.

_'I never thought you would be interested in something besides girls and stealing'_ Kurama chuckled in his head at Youko.

_'I know, I am just as shocked as you are, but I think I can learn to like this place, and this Nick guy is cool, he reminds me of_…._ Well me! He just isn't as cool as me'_ Youko said.

Standing up Kurama turned to Nick "Wouldn't Kagome want me to stay here?" he asked the Australian

"She'll be apples" he said smiling.

"Apples?" he asked.

"Oh! Well lets se mate, hmm, how shall I put it" he questioned himself. "In Aussie slang 'She'll be apples' means she'll be fine" he said walking over to the tent entrance "so you coming then?" he directed towards Kurama.

_'Let's go Kurama' _Youko urged him _'It will give us a chance to look around here' _he continued.

_'Fine' _he surrendered to Youko.

"Let's go" he told Nick who in return smiled at his new friend.

They walked into the sunlight; Nick continued walking in a steady pace as Kurama trailed behind him looking around. There were so many different tents and things going on.

"Kurama ya comin' mate?" He heard Nick say.

"Yes" he replied walking a little faster to catch up to Nick. "So; how many people are actually here?" he questioned him.

"Well… it's a small group, around 60 I think" he answered his question.

Kurama nodded glancing around at the sandy earth around them.

"Yes, Kagome likes to specially pick the people on her excavations" Nick replied as he led Kurama into a tent.

As Kurama stepped into the tent he was met with the scent of cologne. Something cheap he would guess. He noticed a tall, but built man lying on a bed.

"Aden put that blasted book away you bludger" Nick said grabbing the book and looking at it "Oh come-on 'Reading your rival's Mind'? Your not still reading that are ya now?" Nick said throwing the book on the bed.

"Nick what do you want now?" Aden said sitting up on his bed to glare at Nick, but looked behind him to the red head instead. "Well well well, what do we have here? Fresh meat hmm?" he said standing up from his stop and towered over the two men. "Looks like the bitch found a new one." He said eyeing Kurama.

"Aden you better shut the hell up you nong, I am jack of the way you speak about Kagome like that." He yelled eyeing the man.

"Shut up Australian" he said glaring at Nick once again. "I just want to meet the boy" he stated dragging his eyes back to Kurama.

_'Kurama let me out this instant I am going to kill that man for talking about Kagome like that!'_ Youko yelled in Kurama's head.

_'I know Youko I want to kill him for speaking like that, but it wouldn't get on her good side would it now? I think she might be angry for killing someone on her team even though he might deserve it' _Kurama said back to Youko to try to calm him down.

_'I don't care; I want to kill him…' _

_'Youko I swear if he says one more thing about her we will do something about it, not kill him though' _Kurama tried to compromise.

_'Fine, if he says just on more thing he is going down' _Youko declared.

"Hello... Umm Aden" Kurama said.

"Yeah yeah yeah" the man named Aden drew out.

_'He ignored me? Me? Kurama did you hear that! He doesn't even care.'_ Youko said aghast at the mans manners.

_'I know Youko. He didn't have to be so rude' _

_'Rude? Rude? Is that what you think of him? He is downright evil for ignoring us; well I could imagine ignoring you... but me? I cannot fathom the idea that some kind of improper creature like that thing is allowed to roam this planet. It's just… goamed!' _Youko ranted.

_'Youko you know that 'goamed' isn't a word right?' _

_'Yes I know. I just couldn't think of a word that would explain it right… so I thought of a new word, that's just how spectacular I am' _

_'Just making sure you weren't losing your mind. How about abysmal? _Kurama answered him.

_'Nice word there, but my word is still better'_ Youko replied closing the link before Kurama had a chance to rebuttal.

Snapping back to what was going on with Aden and Nick; he saw that they were having a… well…conversation.

"She said ta' go! Ya don't ever do anything anyway" Nick was shouting at Aden.

"Just shut the hell up, all I have to do is dig in the dirt, I don't have to do anything extra for that little slut you stupid-" Aden never finished his sentence on account that Nick had smashed his right fist into Aden's Nose making a stomach churning crack.

"Now that your nose is cracked ya have to go see Hiro anyway. Getta' move on ya bastard" Nick said as he watched Aden grasp his bleeding nose and ran out of his tent. "Stupid bloke, he wont ever learn a damn thing" he chuckled. Looking to Kurama he received a look of astonishment. "Heh, come-on Kurama I will show you around" nick replied walking to the exit of the tent.

Kurama still amazed at what he saw; the bad side of his jolly friend followed quietly behind him. "So…" Kurama started "Why did Kagome even hire someone like him?" he asked.

Slowing up a bit to allow Kurama to catch up he thought for a second. "Well I'm not completely sure, I reckon most of it being that he is just good at what he does, he was at the top of his class. Kagome knows what he calls her behind her back, but she just puts up with it. If Aden ever downright talked to her like that in front of her, she would not accept that." Nick said.

"I see" Kurama responded still following Nick to a larger tent. So far this whole experience has been way too much, '_no wonder all the other inters left'_.

"This is where we will eat" Nick commented continuing walking past the huge tent to one side of the camp. "Over there is recreation" he pointed to an area past the other tents.

"Recreation?" Kurama questioned

"Well not much can be done out in these parts, since it's hot, many people don't want to do activities. We always have cards, many people like to gamble, whatever else anyone would want to do" he answered walking past everything and up to a hill. "Sometimes we will start a football game, gives the men a chance to show off for some of the ladies here".

Kurama glanced around to see people laying about and talking to others.

"And this here is where we go to work" nick said smirking at the look on Kuramas face.

He was looking across the desert plain to see the most magnificent thing ever. Ruins half covered in sand were set in front of the blue sky and the golden colored sand on a huge cliff with holed through it. Some people were running about and there were tabled full of artifacts and papers. "So this is work?" he asked no one in particular. _'This looks like it was taken right out of a photograph'_ Kurama thought.

Nick heard what Kurama said to himself, we was the same way when Kagome asked him to travel out here to be apart of her team. He had so many friends here; well more like he met so many people. Kagome, Hiro, and himself were the ones who had been here the longest and the closest friends. This Kurama he made a connection with, unlike how he hated other interns. He knew this Kurama has something special going on. Hopefully he won't want to leave, or Kagome make him leave. He really needed a guy to hand with, Hiro was too far away and Kagome, well, she's a sheila! "Yeah that's work" he answered Kurama that was still staring at the land below them.


	7. Bullshit

**Author note: **

Hey everyone, I'm going to be looking for a really really good Beta reader for this fic, so please message me if you're interested, just head to my profile to contact me, Thanks so much! Here is the next chapter, also thanks Dark! You helped me so much with this chapter so thank you so very much!

I hope everyone enjoys this chapter, I am going to try to get the next one up as fast as possible, but I am having writers block, if anyone would like to share ideas feel free to tell me about them

Updated 6/26/08: Actually I wont really need a beta reader for the fanfiction, If someone is interested though, I think it would be so much fun to write a story with them. Basically If you want to find someone to help write a story with you, or something like that I would love to hear from you! Thanks so much!

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**Chapter 7: Bullshit**

"Bullshit"

"Ya sure Kurama" A man asked.

"Bullshit Nick" Kurama said eyeing Nick. The Australian was mighty good at this game. As was he, so it made the much more enjoyable for them, but a lot less fun for everyone else who joined them as well.

"Kurama is that ya final answer?" nick said smirking at Kurama. "Hey, maybe I might be telling' then truth ya ever think of that one?" He finished glaring at Kurama the same way he was glaring at him, but both of their eyes held a sort of sparkle in them that could only be described as amusing.

"I call Bullshit Nick." Kurama stated one last time griping his cards in his hand.

_'Get him Kurama! He is so lying'_ Youko shouted in the redhead mind. He was having a grand ol' time here, and without having to be with a woman or stealing.

One of them men that had been playing with them reached his hand over to the pile of cards. Everyone sucked in their breath; it was one of the most intense games that anyone here had played.

The man who had grabbed the cards slammed them on the table. Everyone leaned into the center of the table to see if it was a bluff or the truth. Before anyone could see the cards a knife pierced the two cards that lay on the table. In a shock everyone looked up to see Kagome looking coldly at them.

"He was telling the truth. Now everyone go back to your tents. Mike, you have food to prepare. I don't want my team dropping dead from lack of nutrition and lack of rest." She said staring at the men and few women. "Now!" she exclaimed as the people all rushed to get to where they were supposed to be going, leaving only Nick and Kurama to feel the wrath of Kagome.

Turning to the two men she answered Shuuichi's questioning look "Nick has never lied; I don't think I have ever heard a lie come from his mouth as long as I knew him. That's why I never call bullshit on him" she responded sitting in a seat that was abandoned by someone. She ripped her knife from the cards revealing two kings with a slash through them.

"I thought I told you to get to bed when you were done." she stated more than asked Nick.

"I'm too tough for that Sheila" he gave her a brilliant smirk then frowned when he realized she wasn't smiling while he glanced at the beautiful dark haired girl "So how are they?" he questioned about Sabrina and Mathew.

Receiving a deep sigh from the girl he knew it wasn't good. She opened her mouth to say something but quickly closed it. "Well…" she started "It's not too good, they are fine but" she paused thinking of the right thing to say next "Hiro had come and took a look at them, Sabrina had a fractured leg and a shattered arm, and two of Mathew's ribs were broken. They won't be back; they aren't good enough to stay." She finished getting a sad look from Nick and a shocked expression of Shuuichi. "We will have to have everyone up and ready for tomorrow." she replied.

"Yeah we will be zonked out tomorrow since we need clean out the ruins that collapsed" Nick replied quietly, sad at the new developments.

"Yeah Nick, you might want to get someone to help you with that, since I won't be able to" Kagome answered collecting the cards on the table and quietly shuffling them.

Kurama who had been silently listening to their conversation decided to speak up "So I am guessing I will be able to go down there tomorrow?" he questioned hoping for a yes.

"Yeah I will be showing you around" she said locking eyes with him. "I won't take you in any of the ruins and caves to see them until I have made my rounds through them first; I won't have someone else getting hurt" turning back to Nick she started to continue "So I will need everyone to stay out until I give the okay alright Nick." she received a nod from Nick then back to look at Kurama.

Kurama replied with a nod in her direction.

_'Yay Kurama we get to go inside ruins, hey remember that movie? Maybe it will be like that! With a curse and mummy, oh that would be so cool!'_ Youko said to Kurama eagerly.

_'Yes I can't help to be excited either Youko, it's so amazing, but that movie took place in Egypt, whole different society'_ Kurama answered Youko

_'Wait did you just insult me? Whatever you're just jealous. Anyway it's better than amazing it is umm..hmm,'_

_'Don't even make up a new word this time, I can handle one new word from you a day.'_

_'I was not going to make up a new word, actually I was going to say phenomenal_' Youko said in a huff angry that be had been insulted for his superb word making skills.

_'Sure Youko'_ Kurama finished directing his attention back to Kagome and Nick.

"I had an interesting conversation today Nick." Kagome said out of the blue white she was passing the cards that she had shuffled out.

"Bullshit?" He questioned looking at the cards.

"Yeah" she continued. "Anyway I actually got a complaint instead of actually having a conversation." She said casually while finishing with the last card.

"Oh from who?" he asked looking at his hand, placing two cards down he replied "Two aces"

"You hit him Nick? One two"

Kurama looked at the two of them. They were talking like this kind of thing happened everyday. "He shouldn't have talked about ya like that."

Kurama placed one card down while saying a simple "One three"

"It's not fair day in and day out he complains and he insults you, its just not right, two fours"

"Nick, I know he might say some things but that gives you no right to break his nose, one five"

"I broke that nongs nose! Ha, ya hear that Kurama? I didn't think I hit em that hard!" Nick said laughing but suddenly stopped when Kagome gave him a hard glare he cleared his throat. "Ummm I mean Kurama and I give him the best of luck on his recovery" He said smiling at Kagome, when her eyes drifted to her cards to organize them he quickly mouthed the word 'no' while shaking his head to Kurama, earning a smile from the redhead, but once Kagome turned back around he immediately turned the smile into a frown and shook his head yes.

"Nick he wanted to quit."

"Then let him, he disrespects you and your work, he doesn't want to be here" Nick said happy that actually caused pain to the bloke.

"He is good at what does, I have had people had people disrespected me before, it doesn't bother me Nick; he can say what he wants to me. If he ever does it in front of my colleagues I will make him pay but I won't kick him out, we need him." Kagome finished glaring at Nick.

"Uh two sixes" Kurama replied nervously for breaking their fight.

"Bullshit" Kagome replied not breaking her glare from Nick until Kurama picked up the stack of cards.

With a sigh Kurama picked up the deck that they had made and arranged it within his own cards he held.

"Four sevens, and I swear if he does something or says anything foul again I will do more than hurt that bloke" he threaten with frown, but then smiled "and you know I never lie" he finished.

"Yeah yeah Nick, one eight" Kagome said "So it seems that you and Shuuichi are getting along"

"Yes Nick helped me find my way around here while you were taking care of things, one nine" Kurama stated.

"Who is Shuuichi?" Nick smirked playing,"Come-on Kagome, call him Kurama, I bet he would prefer it over Shuuichi" he said 'Shuuichi' with distaste to prove a point, "isn't that right Kurama?" he stressed.

"Well, Miss. Kagome could call me whatever she prefer, I really don't mind people calling me Shuuichi." He replied not wanting another fight to break out.

"Whatever you two, you people call each other the strangest things 'Miss. Kagome', 'Shuuichi' I am surrounded by strange people, four tens"

"Nick shut up" Kagome replied placing her cards down "one jack, so why did you come out here Shuuichi?" Kagome asked Kurama.

"Well for the adventure, two queens, I love to do different things. At first I was objective to coming because of my mother; I didn't want to leave her alone." He finished.

"Wow that sounds like Kagome, always up for a good ol' adventure, four kings" Nick said placing four cards, which included two of the cards that Kagome had punctured earlier on the table. "Uh we might need some new cards" he stated looking at the cuts.

Kagome was still staring at Kurama " Yeah like me" she said quietly looking back to her cards in her hand she started to place one card down but she was cut off when a bell rung in the distance

"What's that?" Kurama asked confused.

"Ahh dinner time! I'm glad we ended it on me, with all those kings, cuz' you know I'm the king" Nick stated answering Kurama's question and gloating just a wee bit. "Who has the least amount of cards?" he asked smiling at Kagome and Kurama.

"Nick shut up we know you won, sore winner" Kagome mumbled the last part picking up the cards, but both the men had heard her.

"Yes, I am" Nick said happily. "I'll save ya the usual spot, and Kurama I'll save ya one too." Nick said walking out of the huge tent to go to the dining tent.

Kagome and Kurama picked up the chairs and stacked them, when they were done they headed out to dine. It was starting to get dark and most likely going to be cold that night, regardless of being in the middle of the desert.

They both walked in silence until someone spoke breaking the uncomfortable silence "I left my mother too." Kagome replied looking strait ahead.

Kurama turned to look at her wondering if she was going to continue.

"My grandfather died when I was in Israel helping out in an excavation, and my younger brother left to go to America to attend college. So I had a choice to make, follow my career or stay home and take care of my mother."

"I never had any siblings, would you mind telling about him?" he questioned lightly, he wouldn't want Kagome getting angry with him, since she starting to be a little kinder.

"His name is Souta, tree years younger than I. He is in Yale right now; he wanted to be a computer programmer. Loves games, I swear I never saw him without his Gameboy growing up." She giggled at the last part.

Kurama chuckled along with her. Before they knew it they had arrived to the loud noise of people getting ready to eat inside the tent. Walking in; Kurama instantly spotted Nick over in front beckoning them over.

Kagome had also spotted Nick and made her way to him with Kurama following her. They sat at a small table. The noise level was incredible.

"Kagome" Nick shouted over the noise "Hurry I'm hungry" Nick yelled once again receiving a nod from Kagome.

Kagome stood up and instantly it quiet down. "Everyone" Kagome's voice traveled across the area "Let us have a moment of silence" said once again sitting back down. People bowed their heads and prayed while others made faces at each other making others smile or giggle. After a few seconds Kagome once again stood" I would like to thank you all for being here, after Sabrina and Mathew's accident today I realized that I don't thank you all enough for the job's you do, so thank you everyone. I would also like to introduce Mr. Minamino who will be joining us for the time being." She recited earning cheering from the people. "Time to eat!" she yelled over the cheering.

She sat back down and grabbed some food and listened to the mindless chatter that surrounded her. Bringing her hand meet her head she rubbed the spot between her eyes, she was starting to get a migraine right about there.

"Miss Kagome?" she heard someone ask. Looking up from her plate of untouched food she saw that it was Kurama. "Yes, Shuuichi?" she asked back.

"Are you alright? Maybe you should retire early tonight, I would bring you some food to you later on." He replied looking at her, his eyes filled with worry, but was it for her? No way couldn't it be.

Feel her migraine's impact on her head once again she rubbed her eyes trying to block out the lighting in the tent. Felling defeated she surrender "Yes Shuuichi I think I might go back to my tent." She said standing up.

"Kagome?" Nick asked looking away from the conversation he was having with one of the workers. "What's wrong?" he asked suddenly worried at her pale complexion.

"I'm just tired I'll be going back to my room, good night Nick" she replied.

"G'night Kagome" He said watching her leave. "What was wrong with her?" he directed the question to Kurama.

"I don't know she said she was tired, she might have migraine, but I believe she is just exhausted from today." getting a nod of understanding from Nick he started thinking about the day's events. A lot had happened, he arrived there around noon, visited a store owner named Hiro, found out three people were injured including Nick, met an ass named Aden, played bullshit for the first time, and then he a chance to be with Kagome and learn from her.

Finishing his own meal he picked up Kagome's plate and grabbed a paper towel to cover it. Nick saw he was going to leave and told him good night. Kurama nodded his head to Nick and made his leave from the tent.

Walking through his tent door he placed the food on his desk and his way to the connecting door. "Miss Kagome?" he asked quietly making sure not to speak too loudly, receiving a mumbled 'come in' he picked up the plate and entered the door onto her room. "I brought you food incase you were hungry" he said setting the plate on her desk away from any papers.

"Thank you Shuuichi" Kagome replied from her place sitting on her bed. "You can go to sleep now." she laughed a little "You will be waking up earlier than the rest since you are going to be with me".

"Alright, good night" he replied walking into his room.

She sat on her bed listening to him move in his room, a few minutes later she saw the light in his room go out. She sat in silence for a while trying to push the migraine away that she was getting, 'What a day' was all that she could think of. She turned on her light by her bed and reached for the plate that Shuuichi brought in for her. She didn't want to have to admit it but he was the best intern that she has ever had, no one would actually do something like that for her, and it made her smile, hey maybe she could get along with this guy. If he didn't make it as an intern he could always come back as her butler, she chuckled at the thought _'Hey aren't interns like cover-ups for butlers? Only you don't have to pay them, oh well.'_

She picked at her food in silence; she had never opened up about her family really, so she wondered why she wanted to tell this guy about it, was it just because he shared something similar with her, about their mothers? She didn't know.

Finishing picking at her food she placed the plate on her desk and reached for her leather bound notebook, she had to record that one of the tunnels fell, they would have a heck of a time trying to clean it up without damaging it further, that's why she placed Nick on the job, he would be cautious with the pieces.

Finishing with the last word she closed the notebook and placed it gently on her nightstand, she blew out the candle that was flickering causing shadows to move along the walls.

Lying down on her bed she fell into a dreamless sleep a few seconds later.


	8. The Past is a Dark Subject

**Important Notice: **

Alright... I know what you guys are thinking "Omg yes she wrote a long ass chapter finally!!" Yes I just couldn't stop writing. There is a death scene in here and its pathetically cheesy. I went a little overboard with it. So please dont flame that one particualar part... everything else is fair game though.

One more thing, I still have yet to find myself a beta reader, so if your interested please go to my profile and click the little blue letters that say "send message" Thank you very much for all the reviews everyone! I love you all!

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**Chapter 8: The Past is a Dark Subject**

"Urg" the girl mumbled hearing the annoying buzzing by her ear. She really didn't want to get up but she knew she had to start the day. She dragged her arm from the spot next to her to hit the snooze button on top of her alarm, leaving her hand there on the electronic machine she looked at the ceiling. "It's going to be a long day today" she spoke once again. She brought her arm from where it laid on the clock to lay across her eyes, blocking out the moonlight that shined in her room. "A long day indeed" she mumbled once again yawning. She had been up all night with nightmares from the battles; blood, miasma, and death lingered in her thoughts still. The pain that each of her friends felt on that horrific final day still made its mark on her heart.

She was haunted by her past, you would think even after 500 years someone would forget something like that and move on. "No" she said quietly removing her arm that lay gently across her eyes "I will never forget" she finished pushing herself from her bed. She started at her room; suddenly another ringing went off startling her "Stupid alarm" she muttered turning the thing off this time to prevent it from making anymore noise.

Standing up she went over to her dresser to retrieve her things she would need to bathe. Walking threw her doorway she met the sun just barely rising over the sandy hills. It couldn't have been past 6 am, maybe 5:30, she wasn't exactly sure. Anyway she walked over to where the 'bathing' area was. Which it really was a bunch of makeshift showers, that had a huge bucketful of water that would pour over you. Hey, considering what the rest of those other archeologists had, her and her team was living good, it paid to have a rich executive brother that funded for you and your team to; as he put it 'play around in the sand'. She had to chuckle at the thought.

She finished up and got dressed in her usual short sleeve and shorts. Now all she had to do was to get Shuuichi up this morning. Walking out of one of the showers she spotted an old water bottle sitting by the eight foot wall that surrounded the showers. "I think that's what I just need" she said walking over to it and grabbing it. She filled it up with the water from the shower and walked back to her tent.

Dropping off her things she walked over to her alarm and glanced at the time; 5:53. The others wouldn't be up for at least another hour and a half, which gave her plenty of time to teach Shuuichi about the basics.

She walked into his room to see that he was still sleeping on his cot "Uh interns" she mumbled while unscrewing the cap to the bottle of water she still had, "time to get up Shuuichi" Kagome said dumping the water on him.

To say the least she was entertained by his reaction to the whole situation. He had sat strait up in bed sputtering, his eyes held shock in them, and he was at a loss of words.

"Time to get up, I would suggest that you set an alarm for 5:15 that's when we will be getting up, you wont be able to get a real shower in this morning since your late, so I am providing a temporary one for now, you will need to hurry and get dressed, we are already behind schedule" she listed eyeing the redhead. After receiving a nod of understanding she exited the room.

Kurama sat strait up in his bed staring at the place that Kagome had exited.

'_I don't like her anymore, I need my beauty sleep'_ Youko said in Kurama's mind _'It's 6 in the morning Kurama! We have never got up that early before'_ Youko continued to wine.

'_I am really not going to like today, and think about it, tomorrow we have to get up roughly at 5'_ Kurama said while trying to rub the sleep from his eyes.

'_This sucks Kurama… do we really have to get up today? I am a demon and I need my sleep'_ Youko continued with his arguing.

The redhead swung his legs to the side of his cot and placed his feet on the ground _'I thought that demons didn't need sleep, but as much as I would enjoy going back to sleep, I suggest that we get going before we get something else poured on us' _Kurama said in his head while standing up.

'_It depends Kurama… if it was chocolate involved and-'_ Youko commented slyly.

'_Stop it right there Youko, I do not want to deal with one of your fantasies today, I had to deal with then when we were back in Japan… not here okay?'_ Kurama replied to Youko's uh… comment.

'_I know you enjoy them, I know I do!'_

'_Well I'm not you alright'_ Kurama argued while getting dressed.

'_Pfft your apart of me' _

Kurama rolled his eyes at his counterpart's poor excuse. He chose not to respond instead he picked up his hairbrush and ran it threw his red locks.

"You ready?" a voice replied from behind him. Kurama turned around sharply at the sound of the voice that broke through his thoughts. There stood Kagome in his doorway looking bored.

"Well?" she pushed on looking somewhat annoyed that he didn't respond the first time.

"Yeah I'm good" he said trailing behind her as she took her leave.

When he reached outside, he could just see it starting to become lighter outside, at least he wouldn't trip, and make a bigger fool of himself. Quietly he walked slightly behind Kagome. He glanced in her direction to see that she was dressed similar to yesterdays outfit, along with her tattered backpack.

In no time they had reached to the spot that Nick had shown him the day before, Kagome paid him no mind though when he hesitated when seeing the rickety stairs that they would have to climb down.

Kagome started to climb down them but paused glancing back to see Kurama staring at the wooden stairs "You coming?" she asked him. "You know the stairs aren't going to bite" she laughed turning back around.

"Yeah sure they won't bite, but they might break" he mumbled taking the creaking first step. God, why did he have to be afraid that he might just slip and fall? He fought demons all the time, why should a bunch of old steps scare him?

Creak

He paused on the step that made the sound, he saw Kagome smiling at him from at least ten feet down from him her eyes giving off how much fun she was really having at his expense.

"Okay so they might bark, but they wont bite, trust me, these steps have held out with more weight then what your putting on them" she said again this time waiting while he made his way further down the steps to meet her. Once he stepped behind her they made their way down the steps once again.

Now this was weird, why is it the one chance that he does embarrass himself in front of Kagome no less. Youko doesn't say anything about it? Mentally checking if Youko was around he found that the kitsune was in fast asleep. Now there was a good thing about getting up in the morning, he wouldn't have to deal with the fox's antics.

Several more creaks and several more near falls from Kurama they both made it down the rocky rift. Kagome continued walking to the far side near a large tent, she stepped into it placing them back into darkness.

The tent thought, was amazing. The walls were covered in scrolls, and maps. Books aligned together on a rather large bookcase, in-between some lay pieces of paper; notes written on them. In the center of the room a large wooden table sat, probably for work.

Kagome gently sat her bag down in a corner by the bookcase and walked over to a candle to light it. Once doing so the room was caste into a comforting amber glow. She brought the candle over to the table and sat it down.

Looking around the room for something she finally spotted it, moving to one of the walls that held many maps rolled up. Taking one of the more damaged pieces of paper she brought it back over to the table and started to unroll it. She picked up some stones that were piled on the table and placed one at each corner to keep it in place.

Finally getting a chance to see the map Kurama looked at it, rips and creases adorned the tattered paper. There was no doubt though, this was a map of the dig site that they were at. The lines were so thin and so detailed; someone with an amazing steady hand had to have done this.

Kagome pointing her finger at one far area of the map "That's where the collapse happened if you were wondering" she said staring at the lines. Dragging her finger across the page she stopped at a new set of lines "Here is where we are right now" she replied looking at Kurama to see if he was paying attention. When certain he was she continued by dragging her finger in a path threw the lines "This is the path that we will take for your first time out here, it's a lot safer so it should be a little easier for you" she said once again finishing her path off at a new point "This is where you will be working, there should be some small things still to find here, such as pottery or tools" she said taking her hand off the paper and once again looked around the tent for something else.

Kurama looked over the map "Who made this? It's amazingly detailed" he replied studying the fading paper.

"Oh I did it, it's not great but it works" she strained trying to reach something from the top shelf of the bookcase. Whatever she grabbed was rolled up which looked like in old leather. "I had to re-due it several times, I might have to do it again soon, it's starting to fade. Oh well, anyway this is your tools you will need" she said placing the object and unrolling it out showing the different tools and brushes and what they would be used for.

Several hours of teaching and explanations Kagome and Kurama heard a bell in the distance, signaling time for breakfast. "You go on ahead, I will be doing my rounds when I am finished I will come and meet you to have breakfast." Kagome said blowing out the candle they were using and putting her own tools away. "It shouldn't take me too long, when you do get up there though tell Nick that when he is done eating that he will need to start the clean up." She said picking up her backpack and turning back around to him.

"Alright" Kurama said picking up his own things and walking out the door to go eat.

Again Kagome was left by herself always by herself. She looked around at the history that was placed before her, so much hard work placed into this, so much dedication. "Time to get back to work" She said walking outside to see the sun now out. "Well at least it's a nice hot day, like every other day in this stupid place." She muttered, don't get wrong sure she loved working here, but come on it didn't have to be 100 plus degrees out here every single day. Maybe a little rain would be nice, is that so much to ask for?

She started her walk along her trail she took every morning, down the rocky path and in and out caverns. Usually she spent a lot longer checking out the things here, but considering after the accident yesterday she had spend several extra hours making sure everything else was fine. _Well it should be fine, five extra hours on securing it better be fine._

As she walked she let her thoughts wander to the dreams that she had been having. Sure every once in a while she would have dreams of the past, but lately though, they have been recurring. Sometimes waking in the middle of the night dripping in a cold sweat, other times screaming and waking herself, occasionally times having Nick or someone else shaking her awake to see that her hands would be shaking like a leaf.

Maybe it was some kind of sign? She didn't think so, but with Sesshomaru coming and all, maybe it would bring back some painful memories. It was horrible, practically your family being torn apart like rag dolls. That was a wonderful memory to hold in your heart of the last time you would ever see them again.

The worst of the whole thing was how Inuyasha was killed; his was by far the most horrific she had witnessed. It wasn't even a quick death but slow and very painful; at least it was until Sesshomaru finished the job ending his suffering.

Naraku had created another set of detachments before the battle. She couldn't remember the names but all she could remember was that they were some kind of parasite thing. The worst part was that they ate flesh, she couldn't really say human per se since they went to Inuyasha; he couldn't fight them off. Sometimes she dreamt just of his death, how he tried fighting the ugly creatures off, and how they kept coming at him. The ugly beasts ate him alive! Every mass of skin ripped from his bones; his torturous cries filling the air, the screaming in pain, and of course the tears. The worst thing of all, she had seen everything, heard everything.

The things with their teeth, tearing at the flesh as if it were a piece of steak, no matter what he did they attacked over and over; even though he was being killed he told her to run, to get away. She couldn't leave him; she was frozen until he had finally fallen. That was what had snapped her out of her trance, seeing him bloody and skinned. It made her sick, she had charged at the things to purify them, they were too quick. Most had run, but one brave one came at her. She didn't have time to lift her bow; it bit into her flesh on her side. It's row of teeth tugging at the raw mussel, trying to eat her instead. She fell to the ground a few yards form where Inuyasha lay bleeding and dying. She cried out at the bloody parasite tugged once again trying to rip the flesh from her body. Feeling some of the meat starting to give away, wanting to go with the beast. She attacked it, panicking as she tried to get it off. It wouldn't come off the thing wouldn't come off! She was going to die, she pounded at the thing, it wouldn't let go, it ripped further into her. Why wouldn't it let go!

The next second though the demon disappeared, well not really but it's bloody and fleshy remains were left staining her skin, and its teeth still embedded in her flesh. She looked over to Inuyasha only to see his claws raised and stained in red and a small smirk plastered on his face. He had saved her one last time before he would well finally rest. She crawled over to where he was, lying in a pool of blood, flesh, and silver hair.

Once she really got a good look at him, she wanted right there to empty the contents of her stomach on the ground. Parts of his body were missing; some you could see the bloodied bone the worst of it though, was that in one part of his chest you could see the organs. It was sickening to see him like this. She looked into his golden eyes to see him crying, either from the emotional or physical she didn't know, but he was crying and it made her want to cry. Brushing some blood dried hair from his eyes she heard him speak

"I guess this is goodbye" He finally spoke, trying his best to not let the pain show; she knew he was doing it for her and that's what hurt her.

Still brushing his forehead she replied back with a "I know" She paused trying to swallow her chocked sob "I'll miss you" she finished, there was no denying it, he was going to die, no one would be able to do anything, the jewel was god knows where and Sesshomaru's sword was broken. There was nothing.

"Yeah" He said, it made it seem like they were saying goodbye on a street sidewalk instead of a final farewell. "I'm sorry"

"Whatever for?" she asked now rubbing her thumb across his cheek. She could feel the tears springing in her eyes. She would not start crying now.

"Everything, the way I treated you, just" he quieted down, as if now knowing how to continue "Everything" he whispered.

"It doesn't matter, I love you" she cried out now she couldn't stand it, it was heart wrenching. She saw his eyes change direction, to something behind her. She turned around to see Sesshomaru standing just past the trees, she knew why he was here, and she did not want to be here when he did it.

She went to pull herself up but pain filled her side, she had completely forgotten that she was also wounded. Trying the best to cover up her pain for Inuyasha she stood unsteadily on her feet and started to slowly walk away from him her hand gripping at her side. Watching as Sesshomaru walked closer to Inuyasha's form she heard him say something from behind her.

"I love you too" was the whispered sentence. Turning around to give him one last glimpse she saw him smiling, in return she gave him a sad smile then walked off.

Past the trees she heard it all, the sword being pulled from the sheath, the blade scraping creating the shing shing sound that she heard often. Leaning against a tree she listened again. The mumbling between brothers, the anticipation of the blade, the swing of the blade, it cutting threw the air. Then silence, just the silence. That was it; he was gone, just gone.

"Gone just like that" Kagome said leaning against rock._ I can believe it was just… gone, so quickly_. It seemed to haunt her more than ever now, overlooking the few weeks after that event. She reached her hand up to wipe the few stray tears that leaked out.

Getting herself together she looked at the damage done the previous day. Considering that it could have been a lot worse; it wasn't that bad. A few huge slabs of rock had stayed in tacked, if they could move those out; it should be fine, maybe clean up some of the smaller pieces. That would be about a days work.

"Yes?" she asked randomly.

"Come-on sheila! Cant I sneak up on ya just once?" Nick shouted from behind Kagome in a crouched position and head hung low in defeat. Composing himself he stood up strait and came to stand beside her. "Damage?" he questioned looking at the rubble.

"Not bad considering" Kagome answered slipping her backpack off and setting it beside her. "Where is everyone?" she asked walking further into the rubble.

"Eating still, I left early to check on ya" He answered simply. "Well that bloke Kurama had finished but I sent em to fetch my stuff that I forgot" He stated folding his arms across his chest "Should take em bout' ten, I hid the stuff" he smiled a wide smile of entertainment.

"Good" She said simply placing her hands against the inside wall of the fallen entrance and produced a glowing pink light from her hands. Several seconds later they dimmed and Kagome leaned against the cool rock. Smiling to Nick she replied "I ain't used to that"

"Are ya alright?" he asked walking to Kagome to steady her.

"Yeah I just haven't used them in a long time" she smiled grabbing onto him._ 'It felt nice to use my powers again; I really haven't used them as much as I should'._ "The barrier should hold up in that part, so no more accidents for now"

"When was the last time you used em?" Nick asked helping her out of the tunnel. Being the first time that he had witnessed Kagome use her priestess powers he was curious about it.

"You know that one phenomenon in 1908 that was reported to the "Times of London" they said something about a flash of light and an UFO" She said sitting down by her bag.

"Vaguely" He said sitting down with her.

"Rin and I thought it was funny as hell" she laughed grabbing her water bottle from her bag and taking a sip of it. "Sess wasn't so amused by it though"

"I would've been amused if I was alive" Nick said standing up and gazed to the sky "When is he coming?" He questioned referring to Sesshomaru.

"Saturday I'm guessing, Hiro is going to bring him in. Unless you would like to" she slyly smiled knowing that the Australian didn't like her brother.

"Hell naw, I'm too warm for that ice prince, might melt em'." He chuckled reaching his hand out to pull Kagome to her feet. "So you okay?" He questioned getting serious.

"You know I'm fine, just a little dizzy that's all. Nothing to worry about Nick" she said reaching for her bag.

"I ain't talkin bout that" he stressed watching for her reaction.

Kagome stiffened when he said that, she grabbed a hold of her senses and finished picking up her bag and flung it around to her back. "Fine" she harshly stressed.

"Don't look fine sheila" was all that Nick said. "You need to talk to someone"

"I don't need to talk to anybody, I'm good, great even!" she shouted taking one more sip of her water.

"I saw ya' crying Kagome" He said actually using her name this time, he was worried about her.

Closing her eyes and swallowing her sorrow she leaned against one of the boulders "I have a right to cry over him if I choose to" She said keeping her eyes closed.

"I'm just worried about ya', it's been over 500 years he isn't coming back he-"

Opening her eyes in a flash "You weren't even there! You don't know what happened; you don't know what I went through." she yelled at him, taking a breath and calming down. "Now" she started straitening herself "I suggest you get started on clean up. I apologize for my outburst, and I will talk to you later I need to speak with Shuuichi now" she commented turning and started again up the path this time.

As she left Nick shouted a 'see ya' to her and in return received a wave from her still walking form.

Leaving Nick she made her way back to the map tent, hopefully Shuuichi would be there, she didn't want him wandering around the place. Taking the route she had taken before back she thought about what Nick had said. She didn't need to talk to anyone, even if she wanted to whom would she talk to anyway? Sesshomaru would understand then say something like she couldn't prevent it. Rin wasn't there and she didn't want to traumatize her with details. Her family was out of the idea, gramps died, and her mother would say it wasn't her fault; then her brother would be similar to Rin. Hiro could sympathize with her that's one of the reasons why she did talk to him; he was the only one who actually could help her understand why it happened. Then she couldn't just was into a psychiatrist and be all like 'Oh yeah I lived through the feudal era, and I fought demons and now I am having problems dealing with a half demon (whom I loved) dieing'

She chuckled finishing her thought; she had let her thoughts wander once again. '_I seem to be doing that a lot lately'_ she thought reaching the top and spot the red head. Of course by the tent that she had shown him earlier.

Walking up to him she spotted within his grasp Nicks things. So badly she wanted to just burn the things but that would be rude, and besides she didn't want to buy him new things like last time. "Good morning" she said to Kurama

"Good morning, um, what would you like me to do with this?" he questioned motioning to the things he carried.

Looking around she spotted Tina walking past "Tina come over here please" she shouted to her, seeing that she was coming she motioned to take the things from Kurama; which he handed over.

"Yes Kagome?" The girl asked.

"Could you take Nick his things, he is clearing out the stuff from yesterday" she started more than asked, the girl agreed regardless and Kagome handed the things over and watched her walk away.

"Well, lets get started then Shuuichi" Kagome said walking off in a different direction. As he walked beside of her she started speaking "We will be starting some easy things today, like I showed you on my map we will be off in the far corner. Hopefully there will be some pottery that we haven't checked out yet"

"Alright then" Kurama stated. "Will I be working there tomorrow or will I be doing something else?"

"Well we will see how you do with this today" Kagome said "If you do well today I will let you be by yourself maybe tomorrow, today though I will observe your progress" She finished.

A light conversation back and fourth and a few minutes of walking they had arrived at the site. A few instructions of what to start with they were ready to get started.

As Kagome worked, she of course let her thoughts run once again. This time about less disturbing things than what she was thinking of earlier. This time she thought of what she could get Rin for her birthday. It was getting harder these days, Rin had everything, since Sess would get her anything she would want. The good things was that Rin was never spoiled rotten, the one time Rin went over board in a toy store Sess made her train with him for a whole month. No one would have any fun doing that either. _I remember when I had to have that training session. I didn't even do anything; he just thought that I was weak. I do have to admit that it helped me but damn was it hard. _ Accidentally Kagome let a small chuckle escape.

"What may I ask is funny Miss Kagome?" she heard Kurama ask her from behind.

"Nothing at all, just thinking of the past" Kagome mentioned to him.

"Specifically who were you thinking of if it isn't too bold" He asked her while grabbing a new tool to work with.

"My sister and brother, you will meet them on Saturday maybe" The dark haired girl replied picking up a small piece of pottery and examining it.

"I had a couple of friends, if you could say that. Anyway we worked together; many times we had together been quite funny. Sometimes I find myself thinking of them and I will just start laughing for no apparent reason." He stated.

"Like what for example?"

"Well I remember this one time one of my friends; 'Hiei' is his name, but he is the loner, quiet type dresses all in black. He was standing off to the side one time we were in a meeting together with a few others. Then this kitten walks up to him and lays down on a piece of his clothing. The kitten belonged to one of my other friends Kuwabara. A larger man, but both of them fight like cats and dogs. The expression on Hiei's face was priceless. I will never forget it." He laughed picking up a rock and examining it.

"I could only imagine; my brother is like that. The kind of man that is would be cold, static, and emotionless. Sort of like that?" Kagome asked the last part.

"Yes kind of like that. Nice description, it suits my friend pretty well" Kurama stated a smile on his face still.

For hours the two shared funny moments. Never revealing their true lives to each other; Kagome keeping her life a secret then Kurama keeping his spirit detective life away.

Hearing a bell ring in the distance Kagome looked at her watch in shock at the time. '_It's already noon! The time went by so fast'_. She stood up and looked at what her and Shuuichi had completed, which was quite a lot for his first time out here. They had found several pieces of pottery and a few tools.

"You can go on ahead and eat. I will get this stuff up to my tent" Kagome said as she started to get some of the stuff.

Kurama walked over to her and helped "You missed breakfast, if I help then the faster we get done and you can eat" was all he said as he grabbed the rest of the stuff.

Nodding her head in thanks they made their way back to the tent to lock the stuff away. Passing a few people heading to lunch Kagome smiled at them and gave some people directions of what to do later on. As Kurama and herself were dropping the stuff off Nick walked up to them looking gloomy '_I see he wants to apologize for earlier, I might make him sweat it out a little longer' _she thought_. _Kagome had long ago forgiven him but he didn't need to know that just yet.

"Yes?" she dragged out while wrapping a piece of pottery up.

"Kagome" Nick breathed out, not used to the name at all, he wanted to make this sincere though.

Once saying Kagome's name Kurama looked up from his work, never hearing Kagome's name before on the Australians lips.

"Hmmm?" she questioned ignoring him still.

"Sorry?" He questioned more than addressed, his eyes looking down in shame, he knew he had hurt her badly.

"Nope" Was all that Kagome said as she wrote something on a slip of paper.

At this point Kurama watched in interest as the two went on their single word conversation. He didn't know what Nick had done but it must have been bad to make him act this way… so broken.

"Why?" He moaned; Kagome was so good usually when it came to this.

"Because" was all she said as she moved over to Kurama to pick up what he was working on "You done with this?" she asked him.

"Oh… yes" he said as he handed her the bundle that he wrapped.

"Because why?" Nick asked her breaking the one worded conversation and moving it to two.

"Because I think a performed apology would be better and well funnier on my part" she smiled finishing a paper and throwing it in with the pieces that she and Kurama had found.

Only a sigh came from Nick when he heard this, which was all that was needed to make Kagome smile a huge grin. He had done her tasks before; when a few of them were bored one time they had started a rousing game of truth or dare. Which she found quite enjoyable, but she was sad since now no one would like to play it with her anymore since she thought of elaborate and cruel dares. '_It wasn't that bad, the one for Nick last time we played that game wasn't horrible really'. _She thought reminiscing about the time; a few months prier. '_The hot wax wasn't as hot as he complained it was'. _She thought, to the utter humiliation of Nick, she had forced him to get a bikini wax. Not only that, but actually wear a bikini for one whole day. '_He did get a nice tan though'._

"What would ya like me ta do?" he asked staring at his feet.

"I'll think of something later alright, you can go now Nick" Kagome said as she picked up her bag smiling now.

Nick made his leave and Kurama turned to Kagome "What was that about?" he questioned mimicking her move to grab his things.

"Oh nothing, Nick made me upset this morning. He wanted to apologize, but I want to milk this for a little longer, sometime when he messes up. Well Hiro too, but anyway I will sometimes make them do tasks for me, either for humiliation, or just tasks that I don't want to do around camp." She said as they stepped into the sunlight. Going off the sun she would probably guess that it was a bit past noon. "So if I was you I wouldn't screw up, and you wont have to deal with what I will have planned for Nick later tonight" Kagome smiled, this will be so much fun.

"Do you have an idea of what you are going to do to him?" Kurama asked now getting a grin, this girl was the prankster like Youko. To bad he wasn't awake now to hear all of this, he would have a ball.

"Oh I think I know exactly what I want to do to Nick." She paused staring at Nicks form walking up the cliff. "I have the perfect thing for him" She smiled.

* * *

I really do not know what to do to Nick, but if you do have an evil plan for him please contact me through my profile, just click on the "send message" in blue letters. Then tell me your awesome idea! If it's completely awesome it could be chosen for the next chapter. So send in those ideas!

Here is some reviewers that really need a huge shoutout for all the reviews!

** Bloodcherry**- Geez... you help me so much in the reviews you send me, it makes me think twice about what I should do with my next chapter. I always look forward for your reviews  
**DarkKitsuneAkina**- Thanks for all the awesome feedback, and helping me with my chapters  
**IYGURL**- Thanks for the review  
**Kagome Lady of Darkness**- You keep me going thanks so much!  
**ancient-relic**- I do try to update asap like you say to me! But thanks for the support.  
**Death By Squishy**- Thanks for the review!  
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**knjj727**- I liked your review thanks.  
**Oribe Junpei- **I loved all your reviews thanks, a little comment for each chapter.  
**Kurai Oujou**- I like that game too, lol  
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**madmiko**- I hope I answered your comment about Kagome's powers in this chapter! Lol  
**DarkFallMoonBeloved- **Thanks for the comment.

If I missed you or spelt your name wrong you have the right to yell at me now! Lol


	9. Computer Problems

**Somewhat Important: **

Okay I know I haven't updated in a long long time... I am not going to be like those other writers that say "I was so busy blah blah blah" because I'm not like that, I know I was lazy, That was it, I'm sorry I just didnt feel like writing this chapter, but yeah here it is. I will try to get the next one up faster, and maybe Sesshomaru will be in the next one! Woo Hoo!

**Also I am still searching for a beta reader! Come on I know you want to... just message me from my profile, and tell me you want to be my beta reader!**

* * *

**Chapter 9: Computer Problems**

"Now where is it?" Kagome asked herself while she searched under her bed for her laptop. It was now rec. time, and most of the people were being lazy and sleeping. Most of which was Kurama. "It was his first day, so I will give him a break this one time" she once again said to herself.

Sitting on her bed with her legs folded behind her she thought about where she had left her computer. So far she had searched in the collection of boxes she had stored up. It wasn't under her bed, or in her dresser. She raised her hand to wipe the sweat from her forehead.

"Damn that Hiro!" She shouted standing up, only to fall off her bed when one of her blankets got caught under her shoe. Laying there in utter humiliation she gave a long sigh "Note to self" she said "Never stand on the bed when cursing Hiro" she finished hitting her head against the floor in mortification.

She stood up unwrapping herself from her blanket and gently folded it and placed it back on her bed. Stupid Hiro, now she would have to take more time out of her day to retrieve it. _'I have that old telegraph still!' _She thought as she hurried out of her tent to go to her other tent where she stored all her fun things. Well it was really used for when Sesshomaru would come, but she did keep some of her nicer things in there.

Blowing off the dust from it she sat in the chair in front of it. Sometimes she and Hiro would use it when they didn't want anyone else to know what they were talking about, most of the people here didn't know Morse code so they were able to have a whole lot more fun and interesting conversations. Hopefully Hiro was somewhere in the back room so he would be able to hear the message come in.

As she hit the button on it to create the beeps, she gently laughed, this reminded her of when society had first used them, her and Hiro always had so much fun using them.

Soon enough the messages started coming through, proving that Hiro is not as dumb as she had thought.

When he indeed told her that he did have her computer she took back everything nice that she had ever thought, or said about him. As another message came in she glanced at the dashes and dots, good at least he would be bringing it right over. Once she had her computer in her hands she could work on Nicks due.

She pushed in her chair and quietly left, maybe she should take a nap for a short while. She didn't have to get going again for a while yet. Yeah that was exactly what she was going to do; it would keep her mind off of strangling Hiro.

He lay on his cot thinking about his day so far. Youko had woken sometime ago and now was pestering him.

'_I dislike waking up that early' _Youko said in Kurama's head

'_Yes I know, but we will have to get up that early everyday, get used to it.' _

'_It's just so annoying, I need sleep' _

'_Just drop it already Youko… its done and over with. You don't even have to get up in the morning, it's not like you even have to do work anyway' _Kurama said rubbing the bridge of his nose trying to ease the pain.

'_Pfft, yeah right' _he said getting quiet. _'So…' _Youko dragged out obviously with nothing to say.

'_What the great fox with nothing to say?' _Kurama taunted the demon.

'_No! I was just gathering my thoughts' _Youko said pausing once again while thinking. _'So what happened while I was sleeping?' _He asked.

'_Nothing happened' _

'_Come on we both know that something happened with you and the beautiful, stunning, voluptuous …' _

'_Shut up Youko!' _Kurama said as he picked up his alarm clock to set it to a new time so he could take a nap.

'_Why?' _came the simple word.

'_Because you're getting annoying' _

'_Why?'_

'_Because you are Youko'_

'_But why!' _Youko wined.

'_Fine what did you want to know again?' _Kurama questioned referring to the previous question that Youko had asked.

'_Umm… great you made me forget!' _He paused thinking of what his question was. _'Oh yeah! What happened with you and Kagome when I was getting my beauty sleep?' _Youko questioned the red haired man.

'_Nothing fantastic happened, like how it happens with your women. We talked about our lives, what happened in the past, funny stories. You know small things like that' _Kurama told Youko. _'If you were waiting for something to happen like I stole her and went further than I would go with a girl I guess you are very dissatisfied' _He said staring at the ceiling, then closed his eyes, god was he tired. Getting up early and dig in some dirt in a hundred degree heat would cause some to get a bit tired.

'_Okay' _came the simple reply of Youko.

'_What no complaint about my way with women?' _Kurama chuckled at his counterpart.

'_Shocking isn't it? This fox isn't as predictable as you think he is' _Youko said proudly. _'Now I am going to sleep if you don't mind' _he replied shutting the link that the two held.

"Thank the heavens" he replied to no one particular, he did think about what Youko had said though, or where the great demon fox was heading for. That he was indeed attracted to Kagome. Maybe it was just a teacher appreciation thing happening like when you feel pride for someone teaching you, or was it something that they could relate with; like how both he and Kagome each left someone they loved behind, like their family to proceed with their own lives.

Somehow that gave him comfort, which he would know someone was also like him. Oddly enough he and Kagome shared many similarities. Like how both hated the girls at their high school. Himself hating the fangirls, and she hated how her so called friends gossiped about the newest drama. He chuckled at the thought of one of her stories of her friends that Kagome had told.

In return to all of her stories he told several about his friends; mostly stories about Kuwabara and Yusuke; and their rambunctious behavior. Which she in response laughed at, which was what he wanted all along.

"I shouldn't have feelings for this girl" he sighed. "It isn't right I have only known her for what a day… God I have been hanging around Youko too long" Kurama ranted before he closed his eyes and let his thoughts drift over the days events; soon he fell into a deep sleep.

"Kagome….Kagome" Hiro whispered tapping Kagome's shoulder as she slept. "_Kagome" _He stressed moving her a bit more than he did before only earning a grumbled grunt from the fair maiden. "Oie I have an idea" He replied setting the computer down on Kagome's desk and took his place at the side of her bed. "I hope it works" he smiled a bright smile as he leaned his face down to hers.

"What the hell did you think you were doing Hiro!?" Kagome yelled as she turned on her computer.

"Umm I saw it in a movie" Hiro said rubbing the bright red hand-print that adorned his cheek. "It worked didn't it?" he asked the girl earning a glare from her then she looked back to her computer "I wanted to see if it really did work, I'm sorry I was curious"

"Curiosity killed the cat Hiro" she said

"But satisfaction brought it back Kagome"

Kagome turned sharply to Hiro, which was sitting on her bed looking quite pleased with himself. She pointed her finger at him "If you ever, I mean _ever _kiss me again, I swear to the heavens that you will never be able to reproduce"

"Reproduce?" Hiro whispered scared as he backed away from the dark haired girl.

"You will never be able to have children" she said turning back in her chair to face her computer screen as she clicked at something on the glowing screen.

"I could adopt" Hiro said quietly from his spot sitting on her bed against the wall.

As soon as the comment ended Kagome was up from her chair glaring down on Hiro "You might want to rethink that comment" was all the girl said.

Hiro quickly shielded his face with his arms "I take it back, just don't hurt me! Please I beg you Kagome, let me live!" he yelled.

Smiling at the demon in front of her she nodded in approval "That's better" she said cheerfully. Kagome sat back in her spot in front of the computer. "Now that you have suffered for your insolence you can help me on my quest to get Nick back for something he said to me." She said hooking up a wire in the back of her computer.

"Two things; one: you're scarier than Sesshomaru sometimes and two: what did Nick say to make you so pissed?"

"To the first comment I was basically raised by him for 500 years duh I would be like him, and to the second part, just something about the past I would rather not repeat" she said, her eyes softening at the last part of her sentence.

That was all Hiro had needed to know, anyone who was there; with her in the past knew not to say anything. Some people like Nick who was human and wasn't there knew nothing of how it was, it was truly hell. _'Sometimes I think Kagome is the only one who truly knows what hell is' _he thought looking at the brunette. I hope she never will have to go through something like this again. Focusing on the girl in front of him typing away at her computer he leaned in to look at the screen when he heard her gasp _'Oh shit!' _He thought as a saw several porno ads pop up.

"Hiro?" Kagome statically questioned.

He backed up a bit and gulped. "Y-Yes?" he stuttered.

"You stole my computer to look up porn?!" she yelled lunging behind her to grab the demon. "You pervert!" she lunged again when she missed, this time she grabbed onto his collar, she pulled his face down closer to hers "Get this crap off of my computer this second, and never in all of my years again use my computer!"

"That's a long time now Kagome, you live longer than the average human so don't be hasty" Hiro said in defense as he held his hands up in surrender to the little girl.

"Deal with it" she said pulling him into her seat and made him start on her computer.

"Can I use-?"

"No!" She cut him off as she sat on her bed waiting for him to be done.

"You don't even know what I was going to say!" he wined.

"Fine what were you doing to say Hiro?"

"Can I use your T.V to watch porn?" He questioned using his pity look when he glanced at her.

Kagome stared at him, that's all she did with a blank look in her eyes and her mouth hung open. _'Oh no! I sent her off the deep end… I know I shouldn't have pushed my luck' _Hiro thought.

Snapping out of her thoughts Kagome responded "I can't believe you said that you insufferable, self-centered, arrogant, demon! You're just as bad as Miroku, no… I take that back your worse! So much worse than how he was!"

"I was joking Kagome, how about this… You go grab something to eat and I will get these bad evil things off your sweet innocent computer, and when I finish my quest I will come get you." Hiro dramatically said. _'Please let her listen to me once' _

She looked at him for a few seconds, but it felt like hours to him, "Yeah I am a bit hungry, thanks Hiro" Kagome said to him. She ruffled his hair as she left her tent, leaving Hiro by himself.

He looked to the ceiling "Thank you whoever is up there" he simply said as he breathed a sigh on relief "Thank goodness Kagome has that sound barrier around her tent, wouldn't want anyone knowing I'm a insufferable, self-centered, arrogant, demon" He laughed. Getting back on task of deleting his porn he let his mind wander back to that day, back when nightmares were lived and people died.

Don't get him wrong, he saw much bloodshed throughout his years. Nothing prepared him for what happened. It was miserable; he had gotten along with everyone just week's prier. Then they had to go and just, well go.

Kagome got the impact of it all, with Inuyasha dieing and all. She had a right to be depressed; she was with her group way longer than he had been. The most thankful thing he could think of was that Kagome didn't have demon senses; she couldn't smell the blood still thick in the air long after the battle had ended. Both Sesshomaru and he had to deal with the putrid odor for months.

Kagome was like a little sister to him, after the battle she stayed with Sesshomaru and Rin. Of course he tagged along, who can really pass up a time at Sesshomaru's place? The four of them became close over the years. After Kagome and Rin were officially adopted after a bloodbond with Sesshomaru they became the crazy family that everyone loved to hear about.

Sesshomaru became what would be known as the protective big brother, whom most were afraid of his static personality. That was unless you really knew him, then you would see him as a caring man. Never get on his bad side though, or you would end up training with him for who knows how long.

Kagome was the little sister, who at times knew how to buckle down and be serious, but she cared about everyone though, and she would do anything for anyone if you treated her with respect. Like Sesshomaru though, you knew not to get on her bad side, or she would do something bad to you, and no one liked that.

Rin was the youngest, and probably the most fun to hang around with. She was the one who would be your accomplice for anything, she knew things. No one ever really figured out how she found out some of her information, hell Sesshomaru gave his shot at it too but failed to find out. She could be innocent too, and that's what most people loved about her; the lightheartedness that came along.

Then there was him, the crazy uncle type. You know the kind; the family member that no one really would want to come over for holidays, but came anyway and made themselves at home? Yeah that was him. For Rin he would cook up schemes with, but they would usually end up with him at the hospital because somehow something went wrong. Maybe because he would be the one who accidentally messed it up. To Kagome he was the buddy, someone who she could talk to about anything, they had some good times over the years, mostly her helping him to find a girl, which sometimes didn't work… okay never worked. Then Sesshomaru, they were more like old college rivals turned friends. Their relationship was strange to say the least. While he would hang with the Kagome and Rin having fun, he and Sesshomaru would act a lot more serious. Shaking hands when they would greet, even though they were practically like brothers, though they never did perform the bloodbond, something about how Sesshomaru didn't want to mix blood with a perverted demon. Now where did he get that idea?

'_Finished!' _He thought as the computer shut down and turned to a black screen. "Now all I have to do is go find Kagome" he said pushing the chair back in under the desk and walked outside.

While walking to the kitchen he passed some people who worked with Kagome laying about, some yelling 'hi' to him and other just nodding in his direction. Most of the people here he didn't like. He was all for the human race, but most of them were stupid and had no spine. Then the demons were too young, they didn't know what real horrors were, they were pathetic.

If you were a decent person, and showed some kind of personality then he would treat you no different than he would treat a friend.

He walked into the kitchen only to see no Kagome there. "Mike" He shouted to the cook that was stirring what looked like to be soup.

Looking up from his food he spotted Hiro, smiling at his friend he walked over to him "Yeah Hiro, what is happening? What are you doing out here?" Mike said shaking Hiro's hand.

"Kagome called for me, she needed something" Hiro said leaning back against a table "Do you know where that girl got to anyway?" he asked Mike.

"Hm? Oh I sensed her a little while ago, I think she left though." The cook said. "Sorry" he replied picking up his wooden spoon and started working once again.

"Yup, thanks anyway" Hiro said standing strait and started walking out the door.

"You going to be here for dinner?" Mike asked the demon only to have Hiro raise his hand signifying that he had heard him.

As Hiro left he started walking back to Kagome's tent maybe thinking that she had returned. _'Mike is so useless' _He laughed in his thoughts. He still remembered how he met the half-demon. Basically it ended with him sick with food poisoning because he might have said something bad to Mike.

Stepping back into Kagome's tent he smelled something new, more like someone.

"Hiro there you are!" Kagome said from her spot in her chair. On the bed there sat Kurama typing away on Kagome's computer.

"Yeah I was looking for you Kagome, Mike said you were there but left" He said walking up next to her and leaned against her desk. "I figured that you would have come back."

She turned farther in her chair to look at him a bit better "Yeah sorry, I must have passed you somehow." She stopped for a moment to turn her chair so she could see both Hiro and Kurama "I came back and you were gone so I started my computer and I couldn't get a program working correctly, so I went back outside to find you and I saw Shuuichi walking out of his tent. Basically he is really good with computers and offered to help me out while you were gone." She said turning back to look back at the red head.

"Well you didn't take very long to go and replace me" He laughed pushing Kagome a bit in a playful manner. "I'm hurt Kagome"

"Well you'll get over it now won't you" Kagome stated more than asked. "So how is it Shuuichi?" Kagome asked.

"It should be okay now, I just have to reload one of your programs, it seemed like one of the files you needed was deleted" Kurama said looking up from the screen and waited as the file reloaded.

'_Oops' _

"Damn it Hiro! You deleted one of my files I needed!" Kagome harshly scolded to the demon.

"I'm sorry I didn't mean it, I was fixing it remember?" He pleaded to the dark haired girl.

"You were deleting the porn you put on there in the first place, you make it seem like you're a computer genius!"

He looked to Kagome's angry face and looked back to Kurama giving him a weird look "Oh like you've never done it" He said directing the question towards Kurama.

"I haven't" was what the red head told him. "Well Miss Kagome you should be ready to get started with your plan." Kurama said handing the computer back to Kagome while she smiled.

"Thank you Shuuichi! That was so nice of you." She said smiling. "Right Hiro?" she harshly said turning back to the demon.

"Yeah yeah… Wait does he know what you are going to do on your computer?"

"Yes Hiro, I told him, since you weren't here and I didn't know where you ran off to" Kagome said typing something on the keyboard.

"That's no fair!" Hiro wined as Kagome clicked the enter button on her keyboard.

"Its fair, since you weren't there, and Shuuichi was" she said referring back to Kurama looking over her shoulder to see what she was doing on the computer.

"So…" Hiro said quietly. "What are you doing to Nick?" he asked the question.

"I don't want to tell you" Kagome said opening a file, and a window opened up.

"Please?" Hiro said pleading with her.

"Shut up Hiro she's on" Kagome said harshly shoving him a bit and clicked the button causing a girl to come on the screen. She looked tired to say the least, her blond hair ruffled and her clothes were askew. "Christina" Kagome said gently to the girl.

"Hm?" the said girl replied obviously tired.

"Chris!" Kagome shouted at the girl making her jump and look around.

"How the hell did I get in front of my computer? Kagome?" She asked looking at the screen, eyes wide open in shock. "Do you know what fucking time it is?" she asked Kagome. "Listen here Miss Archeologist it's almost 1 am here… so unless you want me to do this crap to you I want an apology!" she said yelling at the screen.

"I am playing a prank on Nick" was all that the dark haired girl said.

"I want to help" The girl named Chris said leaning into the computer "Hey is that Hiro standing there all shy and what not? Hi Hiro!" she said waving.

"Umm hi Chris" He said waving a bit _'Bitch' _He thought silently, he had met this girl once before, and god was she mean.

"Hey hey hey!" The girl said "Don't you dare think that about me… I know all Hiro!" she said happily. "So I see a new guy, what's up dude?" She asked.

"Hello Miss Christina, I am fine, and yourself?" Kurama said politely from behind Kagome.

"Good, so what's this about pranking Nick, because I want in"

"Okay, well I won't tell you now, since it will ruin the surprise for Hiro, but check your e-mail in about an hour, and it will have details. Oh you will want to be online in about 8 hours, about 9am for you, 11pm for us…" Kagome said.

"Alright then! Bye everyone!" Chris yelled closing the connection.

"Hey I want to know what you are going to do to Nick!" Hiro complained to Kagome.

"You don't need to know, so shut up." She said while turning to Kurama. "Chris is Nick's best friend from Sydney Australia, she was originally born in America, but moved there to work in production. Anyway they met and became good friends. The problem is that she loves Nick, and vice versa, but she wants him to confess his feelings to her." she told Kurama who nodded in response.

She turned off the computer and got up from her chair "So everyone get out now, I am tired, and I wish to take a nap" she said harshly to Kurama and Hiro. When they didn't move she said in a louder voice "Now!" causing Kurama and Hiro to hurry out of the room.

With the smile that was plastered on the dark haired girls face you could tell Nick was not going to enjoy this evening.

* * *

Reviewers that are awesome!!

**Yue Hime- **I should have let Nick suffer with his fangirls... wait does he even have any fangirls? Wait I'm a fangirl of his! He can come stay with me for a week! Thanks for the comment Yue! Loved it!

**KuroxTenshi- **Yes, poor poor Nick... so sad... He gets to feel the rath of my writing, too bad he was put in the story, thanks for the comment

**hieisesshomaru-**Yeah I am going to have sesshomaru more in the story, for the next chapter I will probably skip over some days, since I write too much detail, and it would be too long, so I am going to most likely have Sesshomaru in the next chapter

**madmiko- **Thank you so much for that heartfult review! I loved it, thank you! i really tried to make that last chapter really sad, and I am glad someone really loved it! Also thanks for the comment about how Shuuichi is getting used to the place, I think this chapter I rushed it a bit though. I hope this chapter was worth the wait too!

**Kagome Lady of Darkness- **Yay I updated! Finally! Thanks for the comment!

**Pscho-Sango- **I know how it feels to not have internet for sometime, its horrible!! Thanks for the review

**Bloodcherry- **I am glad I wrote a chapter that your eyes... hurt... wait... I mean ... hmmmmm... I dont like your eyes hurting, but I am glad I wrote a chapter you liked enough to keep reading... That sounds better. If you cant guess what Kagome will do to Nick yet, you can message me and I will tell you! Thank you for the review! Loved it!


	10. New Jobs

**Very Very Important! So unbelievably important! Must read! **

Okay, I will be leaving for about a month to head on a trip to China with a group. Yes that means that I will most likely not be able to update for a long time, I am going to try to get the next chapter up within the next 2 months. I made this chapter a very good one since I am leaving. Thanks for the reviews, over 7,500 hits! That's awesome!

Also thanks for my beta reader SadBrokenWings

-Lindsey-

* * *

**Chapter 10: New Jobs**

She walked to the kitchen; she couldn't wait to pull off her trick. Sure it wasn't the usual tricks she would pull on someone else, but she could be sure that Nick would be embarrassed. Earlier on her computer she had sent Christina an e-mail telling her what she needed to know about what she would have to do.

"Kagome" she heard someone yell from behind her. Glancing a bit around her shoulder she spotted Nick. _'Great' _she thought as she stopped and gently placed her hands on her hips then shifted most of her weight to one side.

Nick ran up to her panting from the run. Gaining his breath he stood up a bit straighter "I heard something is going to happen to me" he said awkwardly "I was wondering if there was even the slightest chance that I might be able to get ya to not do whatever ya are going to do to me" he asked smiling as her in hope that he may live another day.

She thought about it for a second, looking to the sky as if it would help her with her answer. Smiling she looked back to Nick "I think not" she laughed patting his head. She turned away and walked off "just be here later" She said.

* * *

"So Nick" Kagome said tying the final knot making sure that Nick was strapped into his chair "Is that too tight?" she asked.

Trying to catch his breath he mumbled a small 'Yes' as Kagome gave one more yank at the rope that was binding him to the chair in front of the computer. He twisted his neck to see Hiro and Kurama behind him "I would just love it if ya all could let me go" He asked once more trying to push the ropes off of him.

"I think not Nick; you see, since I am just so nice" she said pleasantly "I am going to give you a choice in what you will be doing" She said once again turning on the computer. "I was going to do one thing to you, but Hiro came up with a better plan, you can choose one of three things." She said turning back around to face Nick.

"Okay sheila, I'm following ya so far" Nick replied.

"Alright, the first choice and by far the scariest of them all in my book" Kagome laughed pressing a button on her computer to start a PowerPoint.

"Oh just taunt me why don't you" Nick yelled struggling to get out of the ropes once again.

"That wasn't Kagome who came up with the PowerPoint my Australian friend, it was I" Hiro laughed placing a firm hand on the man's shoulder and shook him a bit. "You see, I thought it would add to the presentation, a little more fun. Kurama also helped with it, spelling mostly" He laughed.

"Kurama ya bloke no fair you were my friend!" Nick yelled shaking back and fourth in the chair.

"Sorry Nick, I couldn't resist, Miss Kagome is my mentor after all" He laughed.

"And that's why I like you as of right now Shuuichi" Kagome cut in. She pressed a button causing a new page to come up with a poorly drawn picture of Nick and red around him.

"Is that blood?" He questioned.

"Yes" Kagome paused "Yes it is" Kagome said smiling "you were right the blood was a nice touch Hiro. Now back to the presentation, number uno" she said pressing another button moving it to the next page; showing the stick figure of Nick and a sword through him. "You can spare with Sesshomaru, and I know how horrible it can be. Or two" she said pressing another button on the keyboard to show Nick watching T.V.

"Oh that's not so bad" Nick replied glancing to Kagome who in return smiled and pressed the keyboard; causing a picture of the Teletubbies to appear on the screen. "No!" Nick yelled trying to escape. "I hate both those ideas!" He yelled once again.

"Okay now the third, but not least idea" Kagome replied pressing a button to have the picture of Christina to appear on the screen. "You will tell that girl you love her and that's that! I know you love her and will do pretty much anything for her, she feels the same about you now tell her" Kagome yelled pushing him up the table. "Now Mister which will it be?"

"Is there is fourth?"

"No there isn't, now pick" She said looking at him.

"Well I guess I choose-"

* * *

"So Hiro what's new?" Kagome asked when Hiro drove up in a jeep with a box sitting next to him. It was morning yet and a lot of people were eating, so only a few were still even outside, she had been walking to her tent to retrieve something but saw Hiro driving up, and she decided she should talk with him.

"Nothing really with me, but I do have mail. I just got it in this morning, thought that I would be nice and drop it off for you" he said jumping over the side of the jeep with the box in hand.

"Hm?" she mumbled searching through the mail for anything that might be addressed to her. She glanced at something that had her name scribbled on a manila envelope; she picked it up out of the box and looked at it. "Hiro?" She asked flipping the envelope over.

"Yes?" he asked as he leaned over to her to get a better look at the envelope.

"How did you receive this?" she asked, looking once again at her name scrawled on the front.

He sat the box down on the side of the jeep and focused back on her "In the box that all the others did, it was sealed on the plane. I just opened the box when it arrived in my shop. Why do you ask?" he questioned taking the envelope from her hands and studied it.

"There is no return address; there isn't even our address, nothing. Just my first name on the front" she said taking it back from Hiro to look at it again. "Don't you think that's odd? How would it get here?" she asked.

"I don't know, maybe it's from Sesshomaru or something"

"I doubt it, even he labels it" She replied flipping it over one more time "Let me drop this off and I will come with you to pass out mail." She said leaving to drop off the letter.

It was odd, how would an unlabeled envelope get its way into a sealed box on a plane. It was just weird, to say the least.

She stepped in her area and threw the envelope onto her bed and quietly left. _'I'll read it later on tonight' _she thought making her way back to Hiro so that she could help pass out mail. Soon she spotted Hiro standing by his jeep looking around. Making her way up to him she called out to him to gain his attention.

"Back so soon?" He asked.

"Yeah, let's go pass out mail Hiro" Kagome said pulling the tiger demon along.

"So did you open it?" Hiro asked randomly while they stopped at a few tents to drop off mail.

"No I was going to wait till dark to read it" She said reading another name on an envelope. "With what we have seen you don't know what could be in there, especially since we don't know where or who its from." She said walking into someone's tent and dropped off a few pieces of mail.

"True, who knows some spell might come out of it and trap you in an unknown black hole and you wouldn't be able to escape ever" he said smiling at Kagome's misfortune.

"I know horrible hm?" she laughed taking another letter out of the box.

"I was kidding!" he said harshly "It's probably some stupid note from Rin, maybe playing a prank on you" he replied while she entered another tent and came back out.

"I'm not going to eliminate the black hole idea; it's been known to happen. Maybe it might be something from demon world" she paused thinking "I have enemies there; I'll deal with the envelope when the time comes though. I have to keep the worst scenario in mind just in case."

"Hopefully it isn't something that is a worse case scenario" Hiro replied grabbing a letter out of the near empty box and looked to who it was addressed. "Hey look at that!" Hiro said joyfully.

"Hm? What is it?" Kagome asked leaning over to glance at what he was looking at.

"A letter to Nick from his newfound girlfriend of three days" Hiro laughed holding the letter to the sky to see if he could read it "I can't see a damn thing Kago –Hey!" Hiro shouted at the end as the letter was roughly pulled from his hands. "What the? Oh… Hey Nick." He said nicely to the Australian who looked mad with the letter clasped in his hand. "I wasn't reading your mail, I swear" he said to the outraged man.

"Sure and a dingo doesn't eat meat" Nick replied pocketing the letter.

Hiro leaned over to Kagome "Does it?" he asked her quietly, receiving only a nod of disapproval from her as she walked away from the two men.

"No it doesn't!" Nick yelled "Stop reading my mail, especially now from Christina!" he finished walking away from Hiro and towards Kagome.

"Bye Hiro Finish up passing those out, then you can do whatever" Kagome yelled back to him without turning around. "So Nick" Kagome started as she looked to the sky. "Get everyone down to the dig, we will be starting soon, I will be working over near the left side, I guess I will take Shuuichi with me"

"A 'right, I'll get right on that sheila. I reckon Kurama is already down there, you best check out the tent down there first."

"Thanks Nick, bye" she said as Nick left to retrieve everyone.

Walking down the stairs she thought about Sesshomaru's visit. He would be arriving in about three days, along with Rin. Jaken would be left behind an account that everyone gets a little uncomfortable. "Here we are" she mumbled to herself as she walked over to the tent set up at the base.

She walked in to see Shuuichi with several books out and the huge map of the dig in front of him "I see your working hard" she said walking to the other side of the table and picked up one of the books.

"Yes" he paused to scribble something down in a notebook he had "I thought that since I wasn't doing anything I should come down here and see if I could help" he finished as he flipped another page and looked to the map again.

"So what are you working on exactly?" Kagome asked leaning over the table to get a better look at what he was writing.

"I am taking the artifacts that you had found, in the positions on the map, I made a copy of the map on paper if you see here" he said showing her the replicated map on his notebook. "Now" he started pointing at different colors on the newly created map "These dots represent the items found, the red ones are pottery, then the blue are items that weren't fully attached; it could be anything other than pottery. Then the green would be the nicer things such as the tools that we found the other day" he said pointing to an area where a few green dots were grouped together.

"Well" Kagome said taking the notebook from Kurama and glanced at it "It's actually very accurate, good work Shuuichi" She replied taking one final look at the paper and handed the notebook to Kurama. "So where should we dig today?" She asked him.

"I think we should head in this area since it's untouched" he replied pointing to a far corner of the map. "The problem though is that it's more likely to be dangerous, I went out there to look around yesterday and the ground seems to be unstable"

"I think we should go out in that area then" She replied stretching "Its no fun if it isn't a bit dangerous, but just to be on the safe side it will be just you and me in that area, less people mean less weight and a less change of something happening."

"Sounds fine to me then, let me just put everything away and I will meet you there when I'm done" he said closing a book.

"Okay I will just go on ahead" Kagome replied walking out of the tent.

'_I love her more and more with each day' _Youko replied in Kurama's head. _'We must get closer to her Kurama, we need to do something' _

'_Yes Youko, I heard you the first fifty times' _Kurama thought as he wrapped up the map that was out.

'_Yes still though, I really think I mean it; loving her I mean. It's different than anything else I've felt for a girl" _

'_How about a man?' _Kurama laughed.

'_Funny a gay joke, seriously though. Kagome is perfect, she's stunning, beautiful, smart, and of course you have to throw in prankster. The perfect girl for Youko Kurama the fox thief' _

Kurama finished packing all the things away in the tent, and made his leave with his backpack in hand he started to walk towards where Kagome would be. Some people were walking the trails already, maybe some finished breakfast early.

'_It's been what like four days, how can you be so sure?' _

'_Trust me Kurama, I am positive' _Youko replied

"Shuuichi" Kagome yelled snapping Kurama from his thoughts.

"Yes?" He questioned spotting the girl a few yards from him.

"How about if I start here over by that ridge" she yelled to him turning around and pointing to a farther area. "And you can start here" She replied picking up her backpack that was sitting on a rock farther away then proceeded to walk on.

"Alright I guess I'll start here then" Kurama mumbled dropping his bag and unzipped it to get his tools out.

He walked over to a rocky area where he could still see Kagome work. _'She is pretty perfect hm Youko?' _

'_Of course she is; stupid human' _Youko rolled his eyes.

Kurama ignored his last comment and continued on with the conversation with Youko. They bickered on like that for hours, commenting and agreeing on mostly Kagome. Everything else was disagreements and fights.

A bell rung in the distance ringing over and over this snapped Kurama out of his work, and conversation._ 'The lunch bell already? It felt like we worked here barely an hour' _Kurama commented to Youko while he started to clean up the area.

"Kurama ready ta get lunch?" a voice replied from behind him.

"Of course Nick, let me get my things and we can head up" Kurama said picking up his hat from the ground and shoved it in his backpack.

"Yeah" he paused looking around "Once you're finished we'll get Kagome" He said running his hand threw his hair out of habit he guessed.

Picking up his bag he turned to Nick "Okay lets go, she said she would be over there" he replied pointing to an area she wasn't at. "That's what she said anyway" he muttered.

"Sheila might be a bit further down the hill lets check it out" Nick replied walking past the rocks to head farther down with Kurama following him. "Sheila" Nick shouted.

"Hey" he said when the rocks gave a bit away "Nick" he shouted skidding to a slow stop.

"What?" he replied frustrated when some rocks started to give away.

"It isn't safe, the ground is starting to collapse I'm guessing" He replied trying to grab a hold of a rock on the side of the wall but it turned to dust in his hands.

"Kagome!" Nick yelled once again now starting to get scared that she wasn't answering.

"Nick!" A female voice yelled from the left, causing both men to follow to that direction.

Both stopped though when they were met with the sight of Kagome standing near a crouched position. Most of her supplies were strewn across the dirt, her face looked calm, her body stiff, afraid to make even the slightest move for fear of causing more damage to the earth below.

"Kagome hold still!" Nick shouted looking for anything that might help the poor woman.

"Yeah like I would move at a time like this Nick!" she yelled her foot moving ever so slightly causing a crack that was dangerously close to her to open more so.

"Stay still" the redhead yelled at her as Nick tried to find something that may help.

Her foot started to quiver with all the weight that was being placed on it. Finally the foot gave out causing her to land on her other knee. When she hit the floor underneath her it gave away, causing it to fall further below taking with it Kagome.

"Kagome!" Kurama shouted to her as she fell. Turning with a force he looked to Nick "Nick grab the rope in my other bag, it's with the maps. I think I can repel down there, I'll try to get down without it. Get people to help!" he yelled to the Australian. But when he didn't move he again shouted "Now!" causing him to run off back up the rocks.

"Kagome are you there?" He yelled down to the darkness, receiving no answer he turned to look behind him, there was no other way. Thinking quickly he grabbed a flashlight out of his bag. He stood where the hole opened up into the inky abyss. _'Youko ready?' _He questioned the fox before he grabbed a rose from behind his hair turned it into a whip.

A rock from the other side of the opening looked sturdy enough, he flicked his wrist causing the whip to travel to the rock and loop around it, giving it a slight pull he decided it would hold him. _'Hurry, we don't know how badly she's hurt' _Youko rushed. He took one last glance behind him to make sure no one saw. He took the plunge into the darkness.

The whip held but it was too short, making him have to jump the rest of the way down. Once down he was greeted with blackness and rocks still crumbling. "Kagome!" he shouted fumbling for his flashlight "Where are you?" he yelled turning on the light and scanned the hole for the girl. He turned but couldn't find her; he took a step, his footsteps sounding oddly creepy to him.

Another step into the darkness, his feet making an echo bounce along the walls. The only other sound in the quiet place was the mysteriously calming sound of dirt sliding to the bottom. "Kagome" he said again, this time finding his silver lining which was a small moan to the right of him. He flashed his light to the corner and saw her. He dropped his light and ran to her.

"Kagome" he whispered when he reached her. He felt her wrist for a pulse which luckily was strong.

"Yes?" he mumbled disjointedly, her head falling to the side and into Kurama's lap.

"Is there any pain?" he asked feeling on her head for any blood.

"Hm?" she replied trying to open her eyes.

"Does it hurt anywhere?" he asked again now becoming scared that she might have a head injury.

Kagome opened her eyes, slowly scanning her surroundings and stopping on Kurama's face. "Where am I?" She questioned.

"You fell right after Nick and I saw you, do you remember now?" he asked her.

"Oh" she said simply, she paused as if to remember if she did remember. "Yes I can recall that" she said as she tried to sit up only to let out a screech of pain and fall back onto Kurama's lap.

"Are you okay?" he asked frantically to the girl biting her lip so hard it started to bleed.

"I think the adrenalin wore off" she said gasping for a breath. "I think I might have a dislocated shoulder" she completed letting out a small squeak of pain and grasped the arm.

"We need to set it then, let's get you up and I'll do my best" he said gently moving her into a sitting position. He placed his hand on her shoulder and one on the arm. "Ready?" he questioned simply. She gave a small nod as she closed her eyes. He attempted to move it into place missing the first time. "Damn!" he said harshly mad that he was causing her more pain.

"Just get it back in Kurama; damn!" she yelled as she braced for another go around.

It was quick but surly not painless as Kagome let out a scream clutching her arm in pain as soon as Kurama released it.

"Hold on" he said ripping a portion of his shirt off and wrapped it around her arm to create a sling so she could rest it.

"Kurama?" a voice yelled from above them.

"Yeah Nick I'm here with Kagome" He yelled up to the sky.

"We have a rope, ya think you could hold onto Kagome as we pull ya up?" he yelled throwing down a rope.

"Think so" was all he yelled. He looked to Kagome looking to where Nick had yelled from. "If you don't mind" was all he said as he picked her up with one arm holding her from under her knees and the other behind her back. He walked with her over to the rope that Nick had managed to find; he placed Kagome down on the ground gently and gripped the rope. "I need a little more slack!" he yelled up soon his wishes were granted giving him enough rope to tie around Kagome's waist. "You think you can hold onto me?" he asked her gently receiving a nod from her. He wrapped one arm around her waist, keeping her close to him incase something should happen. "Now wrap your good arm around my neck" he said simply to her. He wrapped the rope around his other hand several times then he yelled up to Nick "Ready!"

"Okay everyone now pull!" Nick yelled behind him. Soon he saw the two coming to the light. "Kagome, Kurama!" he shouted grasping the rope to bring them over the edge of the stone. He quickly untied Kagome from the rope and people took her away on a stretcher. Everyone followed excluding Nick and Kurama who stood there quietly.

Both stood in silence, Kurama wiping the sweat from him forehead, and Nick looking gently to the sky, that had began to fill with clouds; casting a dark shadow on the two men.

"So" Nick dragged on, not changing his stare to the sky. He opened his mouth to say something, but quickly closed it, as if to settle on something to say. Nick brushed a small drop of sweat that was slowly making its way down the side of his face. He brought his hand to look at it on his thumb. Nick stood there looking at the small droplet of liquid while Kurama still stood behind him, waiting for the man to say something.

"Do ya like it here?" Nick replied quietly still looking to the drop on his hand.

"I love it here" Kurama answered honestly, he walked gently to the man. "Does this mean I'm leaving?" he questioned unsure of what Nick meant, it was after-all his fault for what had happened.

Ignoring the question Nick opened his mouth to speak "Do you know why ya love it here?" he questioned, wiping the drop off his hand.

"I guess it's because, I like figuring out things, and there is a sense of comforting here, the people are welcoming and make me feel as though I am home" he replied.

"Ya know why that is?" was all Nick replied to the comment.

"I don't know" the redhead replied brushing a bit of dried blood from his hand on his pants.

Nick gave a long sigh, then he paused one again. After a few seconds of contemplation he spoke. "It's because everyone is like ya" was all he said.

"What do you mean like me?" Kurama questioned giving the Australian his full attention.

Nick chuckled, bending his head down to do so. He gently raised his head; he brought his eyes to Kurama's green ones. "I wouldn't say everyone, since some are monks and priestess'. There are demons and half demons here Kurama" he replied pausing letting Kurama take in what he was hearing.

"Wait" he stuttered "What you do mean?" he asked urgency lingering in his voice.

"Everyone here knows of demons. Some don't even have powers, I am one of the few that don't have them" He spoke still staring at Kurama. "I know you have a spirit inside of you, a demon one specifically. If you want me to take it a bit further, the famous thief Youko Kurama" Nick replied smirking.

"How did you know?" Kurama said a bit too harshly letting Youko slip in a bit.

"The bloke Hiro actually told, he was the first to recognize ya as a demon. Hiro is really a tiger demon; anyway we were unsure of ya energy ya were giving off, it was different than what a half demon would be so we started researching and found that a demons spirit could enter a human body." He replied turning away from Kurama and looked back to the hole. "I know quite a bit about demons, sure I have no spiritual powers, but I know about all the famous demons of our time." He replied taking a few steps to the hole that was still cracking. "Your mistake was there" he pointed across the abyss to a rock that conveniently had a green whip still wrapped around it. "There is only one demon I know to have the rose whip, and that would be Youko Kurama" he smiled turning back to the now blushing Kurama "Makes ya feel stupid don't it?" he laughed.

* * *

She was typing on her computer, pretty much just e-mailing, so fourth. It had been a couple of days since she had fallen and hurt herself. _'Stupid clumsy me'_ sure she could walk just fine and her arm was healing perfectly after the few days of rest. Figured though, she had a twisted wrist on the same arm that she had dislocated _'Just my luck' _she thought. She had called Sesshomaru's cell phone a few hours ago but no one picked up. Showing that either someone had broken it, or they were already on the plane.

"That figured" her voice rasped out. She glanced next to her computer. It was that manila envelope, it was still unopened. Some reason she didn't want to open it, it wasn't as if she was afraid of it, but for some reason she felt no need to open it just yet.

"How are you doing?" Kurama asked walking in to Kagome's tent with a plate full of food.

"I could get that myself" she replied walking up to Kurama to retrieve the plate, but he was too quick for her and he placed it on her desk.

"I know, I still feel bad though" he said "It was my fault you were injured"

"No it wasn't Kurama, I decided to go further on" she replied walking to her computer to shut it off.

"Still though" he paused waiting for her to turn back around. "Since you're getting prepared for when Sesshomaru and Rin arrive I thought I would bring your breakfast, I didn't think you would remember to eat today." He said smiling.

She took the time to look at what he brought her "Your probably right, I wouldn't have ate anything" she mentioned covering the plate back up. "You could do something for me though"

"Sure anything" Kurama replied shifting his feet to reposition his backpack strap.

She turned around to look back to him "There is a dark brown leather notebook in my study area. It's supposed to be for Rin's birthday but I left it, could you retrieve it?" she explained.

"I will get right on that" he replied walking out with a final nod and smile towards her.

She was alone again, for some strange reason she found herself thinking about Kurama once again. She had been doing that a bit lately. After he saved her; rescued, whichever suited that moment. They had a stronger bond, now resulting in her calling him 'Kurama' and he calling her by 'Kagome'.

She never really knew why his friends (that he had told her about) had called him Kurama. It was so different than Shuuichi; it was odd that a nickname would be that far away from his birth name. "Maybe it's his demon name" she gently spoke unwrapping the plate of food once again. Some demons chose different names to hide their identity.

She laughed softly to herself as she picked up a piece of bread. Nick had come to her a day ago to spring a "big secret" which wasn't all that big. He had told her about Kurama being a demon, which she had already known. She wasn't the kind of person to pressure others into revealing things about themselves.

She never questioned Kurama about it and she acted as if she knew nothing. She doubted that he knew that she knew. For Nicks punishment for blabbing, he would be picking up Sesshomaru and Rin and bring them here. That was the one task that everyone dreads, on account that it's Sesshomaru.

She glanced in the middle of eating back to that envelope, _'I hate that darn thing, its like its haunting me' _she thought picking it up to turn it over like she had done so many times before. "Kagome?" She heard from behind her causing her to push the envelope away from her and turn around, to see Kurama with a leather bound notebook in his grasp.

"Are you alright?" he asked walking closer to her and extended the hand that gently held the book.

"I'm fine" she replied gracing her face with a light smile as she reached with her good hand to take the book. "Thank you Kurama" she said placing the book in front of her.

"I thought I should tell you, Nick just arrived back with a larger man a small girl, I'm guessing Sesshomaru and Rin?" he questioned at the end.

She gave a curt nod "So you know please call Sesshomaru; Lord Sesshomaru in his presence, he gets angry when he is disrespected" She mentioned standing from her chair and grabbed the book, she turned to Kurama and gave a hopeful look "Please watch Rin while I talk to Sesshomaru alright?"

Once she received a nod from Kurama she walked out of the tent with him following behind her. Not even fifty feet from her stood the Lord of the West; tall, and proud. His face showed annoyance, but she still knew that he was glad to see her _'I hope anyway' _She sighed inside her head. Her view completely changed when she spotted Rin waving at her enthusiastically.

"Kagome!" She called to the older girl, shining her bright teeth.

"Oh Rin, you've grown since I've seen you, and look at your hair, it's so long" She replied once she came face to face with Rin.

"I know" Rin replied gently touching her long brown strands that came to her lower back.

"How bout a hug ne?" She laughed as Rin jumped at her. Softly Rin accidentally hit her bad arm causing her to wince in pain; she tried her best to hide it but failed.

Sesshomaru noticed it though. "Rin stop" he commanded softly to the girl. Instantly Rin paused looking back to Sesshomaru with a confused look. He just peered back to Kagome though.

Rin slowly looked to Kagome and noticed her arm in a sling "Kagome what happened?" She asked now feeling guilty that she caused the older girl pain.

"It was just an accident, no worries though. It's healing fast so I should be fine in a few days" She smiled trying to not worry her family. "Oh Rin!" she exclaimed bringing up the book "Happy birthday" she smiled as Rin looked back to her with a joyous expression.

"Thank you so much Kagome" She yelled as she gave Kagome one more hug, this time being a bit more careful, pulling back from the hug she gave one brilliant smile "I love it so much!" she responded now flipping threw the book and thought of the possibilities that she could write.

She smiled at Rin's antics. Looking back behind her a bit she noticed Kurama standing there also smiling at the girl. "Sesshomaru, Rin. This is my intern Kurama Minamino" she introduced.

"Hi I'm Rin!" She all but whispered, "That's Sesshomaru; Kagome and my older brother" she replied pointing to the silver haired demon, who only nodded in response to the introduction.

"Rin could you take Kurama with you, maybe go see Mike in the kitchen. While Sesshomaru and I can talk about things" Kagome gently asked the girl.

"Of course Kagome" she smiled clutching her new gift "Bye Sesshomaru, come on Kurama" she grabbed the red head's hand and dragged him in a new direction.

Kagome and Sesshomaru were left in a comfortable silence, after some time she finally broke the silence "Where did you find that new concealment spell, its quite remarkable" She replied.

The silence carried on for a bit longer until he finally replied "Rin found it, don't ask me where" His deep voice penetrated the thick atmosphere.

"That girl can find anything, it's quite amazing"

"That's the demon you mentioned?" he questioned referring to Kurama.

"Yes" she paused for a moment "Lets talk in my tent, I have a sound barrier around it" she replied turning and started walking back to her tent.

Silently Sesshomaru walked beside her, he glanced in her direction; his peering golden eyes looking at her arm.

She noticed him looking "I fell" she replied walking into her tent. Taking a seat on her bed and him in her chair they started a stare down. "What is it?" she finally broke the silence.

He gave a deep sigh, which was never a good sign.

"Well" she pushed once again, but she still didn't receive an answer, only a gentle look from him. "Sess?" she questioned softly using her nickname for him.

"I want you to move to a different site" he replied.

"No way Sess, I refuse" she harshly growled out.

"There is no further discussion about this Kagome"

"This place has been my life for months!" she yelled standing up now to prove a point.

Sesshomaru looked to her, no expression. "This new site I have in mind" he started calmly "is wanted by several explorers"

"Let them have it, I like this site" she yelled at him. If anyone else but Rin and herself were to talk to Sesshomaru like that, they would surely be dead in pieces on the floor by now.

"Kagome you don't understand, I want you to discover this tale" he replied folding his hands.

"And what tale would that be my lord?" she huffed out turning away from him.

There was an eerie silence that stayed for a moment; his silky voice cut threw the thinness of the silence with what he replied with. The sentence made her heartbeat freeze then speed up with an amazing quickness. This sentence could stop anyone who new the tale in their tracks. This sentence made her uncover memories she never wanted to experience again.

"I want you to uncover the "Tale of Inuyasha and the Final Battle" I don't want anyone else but you to uncover that Kagome, you know how dangerous it will be" he spoke, if you were to gaze into the demons eyes you would see the sadness over these events that he felt.

That wasn't the only one who felt sadness; Kagome closed her eyes remembering what had happened in the past for a moment. She opened her eyes; the glossy coat of unshed tears hid her eyes from reality. "I'll do it" she replied, not even recognizing her own voice.

"Good" Sesshomaru's thick voice responded.

* * *

**Reviewers!!**

**KuroxTenshi- **Hopefully Nick got it, lol

**DarkKitsuneAkina**- I'm sorry I left you hanging, this kind of tied up some loose details… Hopefully this wasn't a cliff hanger, I hate those!

**Madmiko**- I absolutely love your reviews, since they are so detailed! It helps me so much! Okay where to start… Oh the room thing being connected is kinda explained in this chapter… I like entering some past events, not to many or the writer can get lost in the threads of their own tale. I think I really made the connection between Kurama and Kagome known… hopefully the next chapter can give a bit more incite about that.

**Kagome Lady of Darkness**- I'll try to keep up this story, I really like the plot line so far

**Yue Hime**- Okay I'm not even going to lie to myself, that prank was lame! I know I let a lot of people down probably by doing that… hopefully some people enjoyed it.

**uniqu3s0u7**- Sorry I couldn't update sooner… I tried…. Hopefully its interesting, lol

**Bloodcherry**- Okay long review…. Umm hopefully I didn't disappoint with the prank… but I think I cheered a lot of people up with the little Kurama Kagome thing that went on… Shocking Sesshomaru didn't do anything to Kurama…. maybe next chapter….


	11. A Note and a Thought

**Apology**

I hate it when people give reasons for why they never updated. Most of the reasons I don't even believe. I am not looking for people to forgive me for not updating, but I would like to give some reasons why I might have not had a chance to update. Just so people may be informed about why I haven't been on here.

Yes I gave my reason that I was in China (which was awesome). I just started my first semester of college, and I have been studying like there is no tomorrow and I never thought it would be as hard as it was. I did have some writers block. Oh and I am writing a book! Like a real book! I want to be published one day so I have been working on my ideas for that. I'm sad to say I have read some fanfictions lately, and ignored mine.

Okay! Also there is a surprise at the bottom of the page for those who are interested enough about my story. You will have to read my chapter to find out though! Bye

-Lindsey-

* * *

**Chapter 11: A Note and a Thought**

Her fingers slid over the stupid manila envelope. Of course she hadn't opened it yet, never really had the time. They were just so busy packing and getting ready to leave. She gave a long sigh as she took her focus off the envelope and looked at the seat across from her. Sesshomaru sat reading a newspaper; he had his spectacles on making him look like a true businessman. He was sitting in a leather chair aboard his private jet taking them back to Japan; he wouldn't travel on one of the smaller planes that the rest of her crew was on. At least part of her original crew. She could only bring the few best people along.

"What is it Kagome?" she heard Sesshomaru respond clearly not moving his view from the paper while he turned it over to read something on the back.

"Nothing why do you ask?" she asked him placing her hands in her lap, careful of her still injured arm, even though it was a dull pain now.

"Other than the fact you keep gazing over here you keep fondling that stupid piece of partridge" he replied coldly turning over the paper once again.

"I'm not fondling it Sesshomaru" she sighed out rubbing the bridge of her nose to keep a migraine at bay. She leaned back in the leather chair and closed her eyes.

"Just open it" He clearly stated reaching for his wine glass and took a small sip from it before placing it back on the table next to him and returned his gaze to the paper once again.

"I don't want to" she said; her eyes still shut.

"Nothing can possibly be that bad in it" He once again replied folding his paper in half and set it on the table beside him.

She gave a long sigh and replied by opening her eyes and glared at him "Yes it can"

He took a hold of the wine glass and looked at the blood red color swirling around; he said nothing as he did this. After a few moments he finally spoke "Try asking Rin she knows things"

"Sure" she replied; a bored tone in her voice. Whenever Sess wouldn't want to help her with something he would suggest asking Rin to help. She gently got up from her seat and grabbed the envelope. She walked threw the door leading to the back of the massive plane, usually where Rin would be having her fun, on account that was where the stereo system and the gaming systems were. She was met with Rin's pop music blaring out of the speakers, and a hyperactive Rin jumping up and down pretending to be singing on stage. She had a hairbrush in her hand held up to her mouth that was singing along with the words to the music being played.

Unable to keep her laugher down at the sight she saw, she held her hand to her mouth to prevent her laughter from escaping; it didn't help though.

Now getting the feeling that someone was watching her Rin looked up to see Kagome, but she only smiled and ran up to the older girl and drag her to the spot she was once singing in. Both of them danced together for the rest of the song until the music died down and Rin shut off the stereo system.

Kagome walked over to a couch that was off to the side and she sat on it and waited for Rin to join her. "I need your help Rin" She asked the younger girl who was now walking over to her spot on the couch.

"Oh! I would love too! What do you need help with Kagome?" Rin asked excitedly hopping onto the couch next to Kagome; she folded her legs underneath her and placed her hands in her lap.

"Well" Kagome mentioned as she pulled out the envelope and presented it to Rin "Your much better with these types of things, can you see if there is some type of spell on this? Like is there anything dangerous?" She asked as Rin grabbed the envelope and studied it.

"I don't know" she quietly spoke as she held the partridge above her to get a better look. Then she brought it back down to her mouth and licked the corner of it.

"Is it necessary to lick it Rin?"

"Yes it is" Rin laughed as got up from her spot and walked over to a small bookshelf and searched through the older books "Ahh here we are" she spoke more to herself as she grabbed a rather large book and walked back to where Kagome sat. She plopped back down on the couch and handed the envelope to the older girl as she ruffled through the pages.

"What in heavens are you looking for Rin?" Kagome asked glancing over the girls shoulder to see what she was looking at.

"Since you don't know too much about spells and your expertise is more to do with your powers and all that I doubt that you could tell if there was truly a spell cast upon this paper" she spoke as she flipped one last page "Oh here it is!" Rin said rather loudly as she pushed the book into Kagome's lap and pointed at some words on the page. "This is what you have here, just a simple sealing spell, basically to keep unwanted people from seeing the message for you, it was used when the lords didn't want anyone else to see their messages, like Sesshomaru!"

"How could you know that just from just looking at it, Rin?" Kagome asked "Or tasting it for that matter" she added as she skimmed through the words on the paper of the book.

"You have your powers and I have spells, you know that Kagome. I am just better at understanding the sealing and barrier spells. Also I just wanted to mess with you about tasting it!" she laughed clutching her side in a fit of laughter.

"Sure sure sure, is there a way to break it Rin?" Kagome asked moving the book to the side table and repositioned herself next to Rin.

"Of course! Like I said it's just a simple sealing spell. The one who the message is for just has to kiss the paper" She giggled.

"You have got to be joking Rin"

"Nope in all seriousness you must kiss it Kagome! I know my spells, and this is the simplest of all of them, just a small peck and the thing will open just for you" she smiled as she witnessed Kagome gently peck the paper and magically the envelope opened.

Kagome glanced at it for a moment and turned to Rin "How do you know this stuff?" She laughed at the ridiculousness of it.

All she received from the girl was a shrug as she moved closer to the older girl "So where is Kurama?" Rin asked glancing at Kagome for a moment.

"As of right now the weakling is taking his afternoon nap" she laughed. "At least he was when I went to see him a while ago. He was doing some research while it sat on one of the chairs way in front of the plane. Since he wasn't allowed to sit back with me and Sess" Kagome scoffed. "Sometimes Sesshomaru can be a prick hm?" she chucked getting an amused look from Rin.

"I like Kurama, he is cool to be around" Rin casually said. "Hopefully he will be around longer than your other interns; I like him the best so far. What do you think of him Kagome?" She asked looking at the older girl.

"He is alright, not as annoying as some of the-"

"No not about him as an intern, him as a person, you know what I mean".

"No I don't know what you mean, are you trying to hint at something Rin?" Kagome asked glaring at the girl.

"I'm just saying that Kurama is a nice guy, and he seems to be sweet on you Kagome" Rin giggled.

Kagome turned a bit to hide the faint blush that formed on her cheeks. "Really now, who says that old saying anymore" Kagome replied when she gained her composure back "And besides I don't think he likes me that way, I of course don't like him like that so you can drop it" Kagome finished.

"Sure Kagome, I am just stating what's on my mind" She finished looking back to the letter that was still held in Kagome's grasp "So what does it say?"

"Well let's see hm?" she replied turning from Rin and her peeking eyes to look at the clean crisp calligraphy of the paper. Taking a few moments to read over what was said she let out a rather loud gasp causing Rin to fall back from Kagome in shock.

"What is it?!" Rin yelled getting back into her position she was before.

"It's a letter" Kagome replied getting a rather dull annoyed look from Rin in return. "It's from Kouga!" She screeched in a high pitched voice as Rin snatched the paper from the older girls grasp and read it for herself.

"Your right it is from Kouga!" Rin squealed then Kagome snatched the letter back "Hey!" Rin yelled at Kagome, only to receive Kagome sticking her tongue at the smaller girl.

Taking her mind away from Rin she looked back to the letter from a certain blue eyed demon. _'It seems Kouga will be in Japan the same time as we are' _she thought skimming over the wolf demons near perfect calligraphy.

"What does it say Kagome?" Rin asked excitedly still trying to get a glimpse of the note.

"It seems that we will be able to meet Kouga in Japan" Kagome responded a small smile placed upon her lips.

"Really?" Rin questioned eagerly "Why is he going to be back in Japan?" She questioned.

Kagome placed the note on the table next to her and thought about Rins question _'Why would Kouga be in Japan, and how did he know I would be back in Japan at the same time' _Kagome looked at Rin "I think Sesshomaru is up to something" she replied getting up from her spot next to Rin and started to walk back to where Sesshomaru was.

* * *

Up near the front of the plane Kurama lay on one of the couches reading one of Kagomes books on archeology she had written a couple years ago. In fact though, inside his head there was a conversation going on with a certain fox demon.

'_She is amazing don't you think Kurama?' _Youko replied casually.

'_It's rare for you to feel this way about a woman Youko' _Kurama mentioned as he turned the page in the book. _'Especially a human woman, not that I mind. It's scarce that you feel so deeply for Kagome'._

'_I know, its odd Red' _Youko paused as if trying to figure out what he was going to say next _'Most of the human bimbo's I get no mental attraction from them, physical of course. Even I need some kind of depth in those pretty little heads though. Kagome is special; she is different than all the other girls. I want us to try harder; we have to have her Red.' _Youko finished his speech.

'_I think that since Nick told us that he knew that we were indeed a demon that we should think about telling Kagome too' _Kurama randomly said dropping the previously talked about conversation.

'_Do you think that is wise?' _

'_Since Nick knew about demons, maybe Kagome does too. Think about it, the two people who are closest to her knew about demons, one is a demon himself. I think that Kagome might have known about demons. I am just wondering how she knew about them.' _ Kurama replied marking his place in the book and closed it.

'_This might be true' _Youko paused _'Since she is human, as far as we can tell, then Nick is human, the rest of the people who were on that site was either demons or half demons. It's unusual for that many demons to be in one area, and such a small amount of humans. I think we should tell her too Kurama.' _

'_So you agree?' _Kurama asked to make sure before he decided to speak with Kagome.

'_Yes, think of the best part of the whole thing' _Youko said happily inside Kurama's head.

'_And that would be?' _Kurama asked as he turned the book over to see the back, there was a picture of Kagome with her hair left down; she was dressed in average jeans and a burgundy sweater. Then she has the most amazing smile shining on her face one that could rival any girl he had met.

'_She will fall in love with us since me being a demon, I know I'm good looking and I am charming' _Youko boasted.

'_One thing is for sure, we are falling for her' _Kurama smiled at the picture.

'_You are right' _Youko replied _'Another thing is bothering me though red'_ the fox demon mentioned.

'_What would that be Youko?' _

'_That man, Kagomes brother' _Youko paused a moment as if to decided how to put this news. _'He seems awfully familiar to me. I don't know how to explain it, like seeing him was almost like déjà vu. You know what I mean red?' _Youko replied waiting for Kurama to speak.

'_Do you also think he is a demon?' _Kurama asked. Who knew maybe this Sesshomaru character was also a demon, but would that make Kagome one too?

'_I'm not sure, but it seems like I have met him before, I just can get a good reading on his aura, he is keeping it masked if in fact he is a demon or something else' _ Youko mentioned.

'_I wouldn't read too much into it, who knows maybe he is just an ancestor of someone that you knew. Besides I wouldn't go into any conversation stating that you were a fox demon from the past, which most likely have stolen something from them. You didn't have that many friends Youko'_

'_That is true, and if I recognized someone, I know I had to have taken something splendid from them. I only remember the people if I took something really nice.' _Youko chuckled.

'_Then we know for sure we don't want to speak with him, I already get this bad vibe from that man. I am thinking that he may know that we want to get to Kagome' _Kurama replied opening the book back up to the page he was reading from. _'You know the protective brother type of vibe.' _

'_When has that ever stopped us? Hm? We have faced some of the worst demons in the world, and you're scared of this brother? I have never been so insulted red. I am the great thief Youko Kurama, someone like him will not scare me' _Youko spoke with enthusiasm.

'_You may say that now Youko just wait though, I can tell that Sesshomaru is a lot stronger than he looks.' _ Kurama replied flipping a page only to see it was the beginning of a new chapter. He laughed quietly at the ironic similarity to the book and his life.

'_Yeah I would like to see him try' _He could hear Youko laughing in his head. Sometimes the demon was a little too full of himself. He would need to work on that.

'_Just let me finish my book fox' _Kurama calmly responded trying to concentrate on the first paragraph that he had probably reread three times already.

'_You resulted to name-calling, real mature human' _Youko stated once more before he ended the conversation, and went further into Kuramas mind.

"Thank god" Kurama mumbled as he finally finished the paragraph.

* * *

Further in the back of the plane Kagome was making her way to where Sesshomaru still sat sipping his red Zinfandel wine. She walked back to the seat that she had been previously sitting in before going to see Rin. Then she stared at him waiting for him to notice that she was there.

"You know Zinfandel wine is a classic in America, I can't say that I have ever had this type of wine actually in America though" he calmly said still sipping his wine "It's quite ironic" he quietly chuckled.

"The whole irony of it is killing me Sesshomaru" Kagome sharply bit out, "I would love to hear more about what types of drinks you know about but there is a problem" she leaned back in her chair just as he was doing as if to mock him.

"You couldn't get the seal open? That's unlike Rin; she is usually so good with that"

"No, I could get the seal open just fine, the problem was what was actually in the note" Kagome responded still glaring at the silver haired demon.

He looked from over his newspaper to meet her gaze. Both of them locked eyes for a long moment until she finally pulled her eyes away. He held his gaze a few moments more until he raised his paper to read the contents on it "You know you could never out stare me, so why bother?" He spoke in his thick voice.

"Because you made me mad" she declared.

"Kagome please inform me on how I made you angry" His voice had a sort of lightness to it as if he was enjoying this small banter. He reached for his wine before she spoke.

"Because you told Kouga to come to Japan" She frigidly answered "I know it was you who told Kouga to come to Japan since I was going to be there". She finished watching the demons actions.

He paused before wine hit his lips. He dropped his paper onto his lap and looked at the raven haired girl that sad across from him. "I did no such thing". Placing the wine glass back down beside him he looked back to her "Give me the note Kagome"

She quietly reached for the paper and stood up to hand it to him "You didn't tell him?" she questioned.

Once grabbing the note he glimpsed it over to decide if the paper was actually from the wolf demon. "No I didn't tell anyone, besides Rin and of course you."

"Then how did Kouga know about the transfer? I got the message several days before you were supposed to even arrive".

"The mangy wolf probably hacked into my system, I had it scheduled under my to-do list" he annoyingly replied crumpling the paper that he still clutched.

"Ha! You have a 'To-do list'? That's rich!" Kagome laughed but suddenly stopped when she noticed the angry look he was giving her "I mean" she paused trying to think of an answer to give the full demon "A to-do list is what rich people do. All of them have one, some demons too" she smiled at Sesshomaru, hoping that she didn't receive a mandatory sparring with him for punishment.

"Tomorrow at Six A.M" the demon said.

"Seriously?" Kagome complained "are you playing with me? That was a perfectly good save!" She argued.

"Five" he countered faster than he could probably kill a weaker demon.

"Ugh, five it is then." Kagome sat back in her chair closing her eyes dreading the next day that she would have to spare with Sesshomaru. "When is the plane supposed to land in Japan?" She questioned not feeling enough energy to move.

"I think It will probably be around eight in the evening" he took a moment to look at his watch "three more hours".

She watched as he folded up his newspaper and placed it to the side "So will I be staying at home?" she questioned referring to his mansion. _'It's probably too late to ask to stay at moms; I wouldn't want to bug her. I will probably see her tomorrow sometime if Sess doesn't kill me from sparing' _she laughed inside her head.

"Yes"

"And Kurama?" Kagome questioned after he gave an answer.

"What of him? He is from Japan he can find his own way" Sesshomaru answered the girl. Obviously not liking how she even cared for the red heads well being.

"I'm his mentor so I should be close by" She argued. "He will be my responsibility"

"What are you proposing Kagome? He stay at our home?" Sesshomaru questioned; a sarcastic tone lingering in his voice.

"That's exactly what I am proposing, he will be my responsibility"

Sesshomaru paused, judging if she was serious or not. A long time he stayed quiet thinking. He came to the conclusion that she would not change her mind, even if he were to move the sparking to four in the morning; he caved. "I do not want to see him while I am in my home, he will be your responsibility, I want him the farthest room from me, he shall not touch anything of mine, make any noise. Should he, then he will be out on the streets to fend for himself." Sesshomaru listed off taking one last sip of his wine finishing it off.

Kagome smiled either at the fact that Sesshomaru actually gave into something she asked for, or that Kurama would be staying at one of her two homes. She wasn't sure, that fact was that she was happy about it "Absolutely no problem Sesshomaru"

* * *

** Reviews!! (Tip, I give some incite about the story and ideas that I am doing, so you might want to read some of the part past this message)**

**Bloodcherry-** Sorry I didn't update as soon as I had hoped! I'm kinda glad that I made a connection known between Kurama and Kagome, I had to add something about Youko in there too… I hope you liked this chapter!!

**KuroxTenshi- **Yup I think it's interesting too… hopefully you meant interesting in a good way, hee hee. If not, I am open for criticism.

**Kurai Oujou- **Omg I love sarcasm too! That's what I kinda like to put in my stories, so if someone doesn't understand sarcasm then too bad, lol. The black hole thing was the first thing that came into my head, so I flew with it. I'm glad someone liked it. And also you're welcome for thanking me for the long chapter!

**Kagome Lady of Darkness- **Sorry I couldn't update soon, I will try harder next time. I'm really glad you liked it.

**Dragonsdaughter1-** I sometimes like insanity, this chapter had a small amount, but not a lot. I usually like to keep my stories more serious and less random or insane.

**DarkKitsuneAkina-** Hey girl! I'm glad I was detailed enough; I don't think this chapter was very detailed. I tried though! Hopefully you got more of what you wanted with this chapter!

**SesshoumarusSisterFate-**Thank you sooooo much for wishing me well on my trip (also for whoever would like a link, message me and I have a few videos up on youtube from my trip, people can see what I saw while on the trip!) I tried to not forget, I haven't had time to get this chapter out! Aww, sorry peoples! I will try harder next time!

**HelKat- **Yuppers! Poor Kagome, one thing I knew I wanted to do in my story was not make her invincible, most writers make her into some character that is unable to get hurt and she has all these new powers. I don't like that, where is the danger in the story? So I try to keep her along the same lines with her priestess powers, I will make sure when she does spar with Sesshomaru that she will be like a human and not have some godlike abilities.

**Wolf's Mistress- **I liked the twist too! I thought of it for a long time while planning my story, but I didn't know how to write it, I wanted Kagome and her crew to go back to Japan and discover something (Not going to tell you the hidden meaning behind that) but I had several ideas how I could have done it, but settled on that idea. I hope it sounded okay.

**Dark Kit- **I'm glad you couldn't wait for my next

chapter, but I'm so sorry you had to wait, I am hopeing you will get a next chapter a lot sooner next time.

**purp1ebabe-** I'm glad its different (even though I based it on another story, hee hee). I love AU's (for those who don't know Alternate universes) but I didn't want to do a completely AU, so I made mine take place in the future almost like a "what happened after the final battle" concept. I do have a lot of new AU ideas in the making though!

* * *

**People might be interested here! (This was what I was talking about at the top)**

Since I made you guys wait so long I will do a special interview thing… I don't know what it is called. But if someone has a question about either about this story or some of the other stories I am writing (see profile) then you can ask it here, and I will give you the answer, even if I don't want to reveal what will happen in the story I will answer if you ask it!

So that means if you want some spoilers, you have to ask specific questions about the story, and I will answer them! This will probably be the only chance I will be revealing anything about my future chapters, so take advantage of this!


	12. Breakthrough

**Author Note:**

Yeah Basically I wanted to apologize for not writing faster for you all. I will say that I will never abandon a story, and I will actually finish in time. This is a very hard chapter to write for some reason, maybe because I wanted Kurama to change a lot in this chapter. Thanks to all of you that had waited patiently for this new chapter.

One thing is that I would like to see is more reviews… The reviews last chapter was a lot lower than the previous chapters.

**Other Fun News!! Fanart and Blogs!**

I have a deal going with a friend DarkKitsuneAkina, she is going to draw me fanart for this story when I post this chapter up!! I will have details in my profile.

Also in other news, I have a blog dedicated to my work, so I will be posting updates there. If you want to know specifics about when I am going to post my next chapters, check there! The link is also located in my profile!

* * *

**Chapter 12: Breakthrough**

Kurama glanced at the amazing mansion. Usually in Japan it was crowded with citizens. Where this home was though, it was virtually empty of people.

"This is where we're going to be staying Kurama" Kagome told him with a smile. "It's late so you can call your mother tomorrow morning okay?"

"Yeah that will work Kagome" He replied grabbing for his bag beside him when he saw her do the same. Sesshomaru had taken a separate limo when they arrived at the airport. He had mentioned something about business and quickly left without as much as a goodbye, leaving Rin with them. She had taken off into the home just as quickly when they had arrived.

"So do you stay here a lot?" The red head asked Kagome once he caught up with her.

She gave him a sideways glance tipping her head slightly to the side "Whenever I'm in Japan I am" she mentioned softly "Like I was in Mali for the past half a year about, so I stayed there. I usually live here though." Kagome gave a small smile "besides I get my mail delivered at this residence" she spoke "I wouldn't want to miss all the amazing invitations for conferences would I?" she laughed softly as she pushed into his shoulder lightly to get a chuckle out of him.

He let a chuckle out smiling back to the brunette "I guess you should let me in hm?" he questioned her as they walked up to the front door.

She gave a coy smile "Maybe…" she drew out smiling as they stopped at the front door.

"Maybe?" he gave her a shocked look "Well Miss. Kagome, you wouldn't want me to sleep in the yard would you now?" _'Even though I would probably enjoy the foliage'_ he thought giving Kagome a sly look.

She looked as she was thinking hard about the answer "I guess not" she responded to his question as she opened the door and stepped inside as he caught up with her; she spoke "Besides I wouldn't want that pretty red hair to be damaged by the weather". She laughed not giving him a chance to respond as she ran past him into the home leaving him in the middle of the doorway.

Taking in what she had just said he gave himself an egotistical smile; she liked his hair.

'_Kurama that's no fair she has never seen my hair, it's much better than yours anyway' _Youko replied now speaking up at the compliment that Kagome had given his counterpart.

'_Too bad, this time I got a compliment; she likes my hair. Not yours Youko, mine the red hair you always make fun of.' _Kurama laughed at the demon. His attention was once again on the woman in front of him who was now speaking. "I'm sorry what Kagome?" He asked her quickly, he then took a chance to glance around the main entrance, to say the least it looked expensive. Some of the things were probably priceless.

She gave him an annoyed look, he wasn't listening and she didn't like repeating herself. "I had said" she stressed "that I would show you to your room and I will show you around later okay?" She stated more than asked. She glanced at his three bags and then the staircase. There would be no way for him to get one larger suitcase and two smaller bags up their by himself. "You want me to get the two small bags Kurama?" She asked with a smile.

"No it's quite alright," He mentioned grabbing for his largest bag.

"At least let me get one Kurama" Kagome replied walking over to him and grabbing one of his smaller bags by his feet. "You can carry the rest right?" she asked walking to the staircase in front of them

"Yes" he nodded reaching for the final back he pulled them over to the staircase alongside her. It was simple enough to carry all of his bags, but a small part of him liked that Kagome was carrying his bag. That she was helping him.

Slowly and steadily they had made it to the top without any major problems. The second level of the home was just as amazing at the first floor. There was a main entranceway once someone would reach the top of the stairs, then there were two major hallways that split from that.

"Okay" Kagome mentioned walking a short distance in front of Kurama "This way will be off limits since that's where Sesshomaru and Rin stays" She mentioned pointing to the right hallway "I stay to the left" she continued with her explanation. "That is where we will be staying at" she paused with her directions to sit in a small chair to the left of her. "What else do you need to know?" Kagome asked him setting his bag next to the chair, a serine look graced her features.

'_Ask her where the library is Kurama if they have one' _Youko's voice came threw.

"A library?" the redhead asked carrying his bag to the chair next to the beautiful girl.

She gave him a small smile bringing her hand up to brush a portion of her dark hair out of her face. "I love the library, it's probably one of my favorite places to be" Kagome paused with messing with her hair to point down further to the main entrance. "You see the two pillars down there Kurama?" she asked him.

"Yes" He answered staring at the two white pillars that stood across from each other down the main entrance.

"There is two double doors just past that, it's pretty much the dead end of this hallway, so you couldn't possibly miss it" she mentioned. "One thing Kurama" she finished her thought.

"Yes Kagome?" Kurama asked her turning to look at the direction that she had pointed out.

Kagome paused to tuck the strand of hair that escaped from behind her ear once again. "If you do want to visit there, do not touch any artifacts or linger. Sesshomaru doesn't like it when people get near them." Kagome replied standing from her chair and picked up Kurama's bag. She then held it in front of herself and went to stand in front of Kurama.

She gave him a bright smile earning a large smile from the redhead _'She is so cute like that Kurama' _Youko replied.

'_She is'_ Kurama responded to the fox focusing on Kagome in front of him. _'I think it's a great idea to tell her your story Youko.' _

'_True, wait till later though' _Youko responded ending the conversation they were having.

Kurama laughed to himself, _'Seems like he has been behaving a lot better since meeting Kagome' _He silently stood up from where she was sitting, resulting in him standing before Kagome looking down to her. "Well how about you show me my room Miss. Higurashi?" he asked her while he stared in her eyes for a moment. A slight teasing tone lingered in his voice. Giving her a brilliant smile he bent down to grab his bag, when he stood again he noticed she had turned away from him causing him to glance to her curiously.

Kagome brought her hand up her face to hide the small blush that she had gotten from the man behind her.

"Kagome?" Kurama questioned from behind the girl.

"Yes?" Kagome's voice squeaked turning around quickly knocking his bag that she had still held into the round table next to her, which was in the center of the room causing the vase on top to wobble. She quickly dropped Kurama's bag and went to reach for the vase.

"Got it!" Kurama bellowed reaching for the vase with his quick agility; swiftly he grasped the vase and steadied the priceless looking object.

"Oh my goodness thank you so much Kurama!" Kagome gasped as she helped Kurama with replacing the vase "You cant imagine how much this means to both Sesshomaru and I" she said making sure that it was still before she moved from the table. Slowly she grabbed Kurama's bag once again she spoke "Hopefully we can make it to your room without slip up hm?" she joked as she pulled him to the direction they needed to go.

Kurama chucked at her remark as he let her pull him in the direction. He made a mental note to go back to the vase and look a little closer at it.

As Kagome dragged Kurama to his room she told him about different artifacts and treasures that were placed around the home. Some objects they had purchased and some that she had uncovered herself. Some stories later she reached a guest room door.

"This is your room, there is a connecting bathroom in there too" she replied twisting the knob on the door "That's my room down there" she said pointing to the right of them, he glanced to the door with the pink "Kagome" lettering on the front of the door.

Kurama slightly chuckled "I don't think I will have a problem finding your room".

Kagome gave a small smile "I guess not" she responded. She then walked further into the room, flipping the light switch the room lit up showing how big it truly was. "It's a bit better than your room in the desert huh?" she asked laughter filling her voice.

"Oh yeah definitely" Kurama responded dropping off his bags on the bed to the far side of the room.

"I will leave you for a while to get yourself settled, then maybe if you would like I could show you around a little more" she replied. "The kitchen is on the first floor, if you walk left from the main door you should be able to find it alright" Kagome responded only receiving a nod from Kurama. "Okay just come find me when you feel like getting the grand tour, I will be there grabbing something to eat" Kagome waved goodbye to Kurama as she walked back through the door that they had come in.

Kurama was now left with his luggage in the fairly large room. This place could give some of the palaces in demon world a run for their money.

'_Red lets hurry with this crap you brought along then head for the library, I want to look up something' _Youko replied in his head.

'_We can't be in there for too long, Kagome will be expecting us sometime. I know how you are when you get into a researching mindset.' _Kurama replied picking up his luggage and placed it onto the bed, having it bend slightly because of the weight.

'_Oh please, I'm not that bad. What about when you were in school and studying for an exam. I wanted to go out and get girls. You had been the one that wanted to study' _Youko countered the argument.

'_Yes because that was important, you just look up legends' _the redhead responded opening one of his bags and started to take some of his necessary things out.

Youko was silent for a moment, and it took Kurama a minute to notice that the fox had not completely left the conversation _'Legends are important, you ever hear of the saying 'learning of one's past is the key to the future' there is important significance to what I study' _Youko countered obviously offended by what his counterpart had spoke.

Kurama lifted the last of his bags onto the bed before he turned and walked back through the door. _'My apologies Youko' _Kurama responded to the fox thief.

'_Thank you, now come on slow poke lets go check out the library!' _

This time Kurama didn't even bother saying something back, he just let out a groan at Youko. Kurama walked down the same path that Kagome had showed him earlier, this time he only glanced at the some of the photographs on the wall for a moment before walking past them.

'_Hey Red can we at least check out that vase from earlier' _Youko asked.

Kurama continued walking the same direction _'Yes that was what I was going to do Youko' _he responded turning a corner, once he turned he saw the copper looking vase sitting on the table.

Kurama neared the vase and leaned over to get a better look at it; the object itself looked rather old, it was surprising that it was even set up in a spot out in the open. The figures wrapping around the entire piece looked to date about five hundred years ago at least.

'_Few more minutes then we will head downstairs to see Kagome alright?' _Kurama responded taking another look at the ancient piece.

* * *

Kagome was downstairs was sitting in front of the kitchen counter, usually where the chefs would prepare the food, but since there was only Kurama, Rin, and herself there was no need for so many people to help. Most were sent home already, probably by Jaken. She didn't know where he was at the moment though.

Kagome had made herself a quick meal, some reheated BBQ chicken that was in the fridge and a glass of wine to go with the meal, all was good in her world.

Currently she held a phone in her hand waiting for the person on the other line to pick up. While the ringing on the phone continued she took a sip of her drink to calm her nerves.

"Hello?" The voice on the other end of the phone answered.

"Hi Kouga" She answered switching her phone to the other hand so she could pick at her piece of chicken.

There was a pause on the other line for a moment "Yes I'm Kouga, who is this?" The voice replied.

"I'm so disappointed Kouga, you can't even recognize the voice of your self proclaimed woman" she giggled into the receiver as she reached for another piece of chicken. It had been at least a couple of years since she spoke with him.

"Kagome! How are you and Rin?" Kouga exclaimed causing her to pull the phone away from her ear for a moment. She gave a small annoyed glare to the phone.

"I'm good, Rin is fine too. Her Birthday is in a couple of days so she is ecstatic right now"

"Ohh I have to get Rin something nice then" The wolf demon answered. "Sesshomaru is still a hard ass I am guessing?" he asked as an after thought.

She thought for a moment about how attached Kouga had become to Rin, like she was a sister. It had taken some time for Rin to get used to the wolf prince. On account that she had been killed by his wolves, they got along great though now.

Kagome shook her head in amusement at the comment "That's not nice Kouga; Sesshomaru is doing well too, right now though he is handling some kind of business problem. Just Rin, Kurama, and I are at home" She responded

"That's nice" he responded "Wait what did you say?!"

"Huh?" She asked the confused wolf demon.

"Who is this Kurama? Is it a guy? Please let this person be a girl Kagome. If it isn't, I am just going to come over there and protect my woman!" Once again she had to pull the phone away from her ear.

"Kouga" she responded, he didn't seem to hear her on account he was still ranting. "Kouga!" she yelled into the phone, that time it shut him up. "Geez wolf, you need to relax." Taking another sip of wine she started with her explanation. "Kurama is my intern right now. He showed up in Mali, now he is here with me and Rin. He lives somewhere in Japan actually. He is completely opposite of the uptight Sesshomaru" she had to giggle at her comment. "He had the same professor as me back in college, and the professor thought he should ask if I could take another intern. Good thing I agreed because Kurama is one of the more brilliant guys I have come across" Kagome answered.

"Wow Kagome, sounds like you really like this guy" he spoke, some kind of undertone lingered in his voice that Kagome was sure to pick up on. Kouga wasn't stupid; Kagome had sounded like she really enjoyed the guys company.

Switching the phone back to her other hand she cradled the phone between her shoulder and ear. This way she could pick up her plate and glass of the unfinished food. "Kouga!" She squeaked "I don't like him like that" she tried to convince her friend.

"Kagome I know you're my woman and all" he replied, Kagome had rolled her eyes at the comment, after all the years he still insisted on calling her that. It pissed Sesshomaru off to no end though. "but I want you to be happy, and if this new guy makes you happy, I say go for him" This time Kouga started chuckling over the phone, causing Kagome to roll her eyes once again.

Kouga was a lot like how he was five hundred years before, pretty laid back. He liked to have fun, and he could always be counted on if anyone needed anything. Something that she had respected in the wolf demon was his loyalty to friends. After Ginta and Hakkaku had passed on shortly after the final battle, Kouga had been crushed. Their small group consisting of herself, Sesshomaru, Rin, Jaken, and Hiro had agreed to let Kouga into their small pack.

He had stayed around for a while, a few hundred years. Though Kouga had decided to leave, they only spoke with him from time to time, unlike Hiro who she saw almost everyday.

"Kouga stop teasing" She scolded softly to him. "He doesn't even like me like that!" her voice once again raised an octave.

"Oh Kagome so you do care about what he thinks of you?" Kouga's voice dropped a little lower; she had to strain her ears to hear him. "I didn't know you were such a vixen Kagome, you're with me and yet you want this other man, what kind of dirty girl are you?"

"I'm hanging up on you Kouga I am so completely serious!" she yelled into the phone. "I'm also not your women, we agreed on that a long time ago!" This time all she could hear was laughing over the other end of the phone.

"I'm sorry alright! It was funny though"

"It wasn't funny on my end of the conversation." She paused for a moment "So you hack into Sesshomaru's "to do list"?" she asked him.

"Yup, wasn't too hard. I asked Rin for a print out, she asked for some concert tickets".

Concert tickets wasn't a very hard thing for Kouga to get, he was after all a world famous record producer.

"Ahh I see, very sly Kouga, but because of you I have sparring with Sesshomaru in the morning. I made a comment about him having a "To do list"; it wasn't one of my smartest moments I have to admit".

Kouga laughed quietly over the phone "I would say so" suddenly there was a noise over the other end and Kouga cursed under his breath "Sorry to cut this conversation short Kagome, I think I know what the business problem Sesshomaru had to attend to"

"Huh? How would you know what he is up to?" Kagome asked him throwing her dishes in the sink.

"I think he is here to teach me a lesson about getting personal files from him. I can hear him at my office door. Thankfully though, I had new pad locks on my door" again there was a loud noise and Kagome could faintly hear arguing from over the phone. _'Sesshomaru must have broken in'_ she thought as she continued to listen over the phone. Sure enough Kouga spoke into the phone again "I have to go, but I might stop by sometime tomorrow. Both Sesshomaru and I-" He was cut off by another slamming, which could have only been Sesshomaru "You know what, ask him about it later, see you Kagome" and with that Kouga hung up the phone.

Kagome reached for the phone which was still placed between her ear and shoulder and turned it off. She let a small smile grace her lips; it was her two favorite guys from the past that made her so happy. Sure Hiro was awesome; she knew Sesshomaru and Kouga for much longer though.

After Inuyasha died she didn't think she could go on to be every bit as happy as she had been. Kouga helped her out as a best friend would. Both of them had realized their feelings for each other couldn't go into a romantic relationship. He had still held feelings for her soon after the battle, but she just didn't feel that way towards him. It hadn't stopped Kouga from flirting with her though.

Things were great for a while, that was until Ginta and Hakkaku were killed, it was an accident that caused their demise. A rock slide had started by a few rocks shifting when the two men were running. Sadly they were not as fast as Kouga had been. That was when Kouga was the worse in his depression.

Thankfully Hiro was there for a while; he was a new rival for Kouga. Almost like Inuyasha had been for the wolf prince. Both would exchange various names for one another, it was actually a very comedic thing to watch. Kouga mostly called Hiro a pervert, and Hiro called Kouga a fur bag. Both Rin and she would be entertained by the fighting. Sesshomaru would sometimes stay and watch the fight if he had nothing better to do.

Then Hiro had decided to leave, he wasn't the type of person to stay in one place so he left the group, Kouga had once again became distraught by this. A few years later he had decided to go on his own travels, which led to him leaving.

They still kept in touch every couple of months; all of them were much busier than in the past. They lost touch completely with him a few years after he left which worried them all. Kouga never said what his travels had consisted of. Both Sesshomaru and herself had seen Kouga walking one of the many sidewalks one morning. That resulted in a huge reunion, and then an even bigger one when she found Hiro a few months later, that reunion actually caused physical damage.

"I can't believe I have so many wonderful people surrounding me" She replied.

A voice answered from behind her "I sure hope I am one of those wonderful people" Kurama responded leaning against the doorway watching the girl.

Kagome looked to him and smiled "It's not nice to eavesdrop Kurama" she scolded him.

He gave her a smile then walked to the edge of the counter to lean on it. "It's hard not to eavesdrop when someone is speaking so loudly".

Kagome gave a small grin out of embarrassment. "So you finish unpacking?" she asked.

Shaking his head no she gave a bewildered look so he explained "I wanted to see the rest of the house, besides your brother probably won't want me living here".

The brunette thought for a moment _'Sess and Kouga wouldn't like it at all. Rin, Hiro, and myself would love to have him here' _she glanced at the redhead _'higher vote wins' _focusing back on Kurama she spoke "You can stay here if it's easier Kurama. It's closer to the site anyway."

"I wouldn't want to impose" he said.

She waved her hand dismissing the idea "Besides if you're here we can do extra research together, since I'm your mentor I should be with you anyway".

This time Kurama just nodded and accepted the plan "I suppose your right".

"Oh of course I'm right, I have to be at least a little smart to be where I am today" she replied pushing in the tall chair that she was been sitting at earlier when she was eating. "How about I show you around okay?" she asked him.

Receiving only a nod from him she took her place to lead him out of the kitchen. He followed her as soon as she had passed him.

"I will give you a basic tour around, tomorrow you can have a more detailed look around" she replied walking across the hall.

Kurama only nodded following the smaller girl. "So how did you come across this home?" he asked her while he was led to the sitting rooms.

She turned slightly at the question "Actually the house was built for us, Sesshomaru had this property in his possession a long time, so we decided to build here" she mentioned "I think we have about 80 acres, which is a lot for anyone".

"I should say so" he laughed as they moved onto a different area of the home.

As they moved from section to section of the home both shared their own stories, usually Kagome explaining problems during the actual construction of the home, or something about the plan layout. When they reached back at the top of the stairs she turned to him.

"Well I think that just about covers it Kurama" she spoke. "I think I am going to retire for tonight". She mentioned glancing to the vase from earlier.

"Actually Kagome…" he trailed off thinking of something more to say to the women. "You know what go ahead; you are probably exhausted from the plane flight and everything else. I will just be in the library if you need me." Kurama spoke.

Kagome cocked her head in confusion but she didn't say anything about it "Alright then" she mentioned taking a small step towards him. "I guess I will see you in the morning okay" she stated more than asked.

As she turned and walked away he gave a small 'Night'.

'_She is great isn't she?' _He heard Youko's voice chirp in.

'_So what was it that you wanted to use the library for?' _Kurama asked.

'_I actually wanted to look up something from when I was still alive' _

Both were silent while Kurama walked towards the double doors that led to the library. He had still not seen that room, he could tell from the craftsmanship in the doors that it was one of the more amazing places in the home.

When he finally walked into the space he could see the rows and shelves of books that filled the walls. The back of the room was covered in glass to let the light from the moon in. The furnishings were a dark chocolate color including the wood flooring, while the walls and some of the rugs were a deep forest green. To say the least it looked like any PH.D could get what information they needed here.

There were some spots on walls that held paintings or old photographs, near the lit fireplace to the side wall there was a glass case that looked to hold a valuable object.

'_Come on red' _Youko replied quickly.

Kurama though was still admiring the layout of the library. _'What was it again you wanted to search?' _

This time Youko sighed in aggravation _'I wanted to actually check up on something that might help me remember who that Sesshomaru guy actually is. I wanted to check a specific thing in my past. If this Sesshomaru is who I am thinking he is, I should be able to find the book I am looking for.' _

'_What book would that be then Youko?' _Kurama asked walking to one of the far sides of the library, which looked like there were more of an older collection of books. Most of them were torn at the edges, but for how old they looked to be they were in impeccable condition.

'_There was a book I remember from when I was still alive. I have thought about it and I might know who this Sesshomaru guy is. Anyway back to me, I had attempted to steal a book back when I was alive, let me take over for a while you don't know what you are searching for.' _

'_Attempted?' _Kurama questioned as he let Youko search for the book using his body as a puppet so to speak. As far as he had known Youko usually was very good with his missions.

'_Yeah I ended being caught. This book was a simple book, no magical or any kind of power to it. It had information in it about a certain weapon that I was interested in. When I was about to steal the book though, I was caught by a demon lord who went by the name Sesshomaru. I can't say I remember his looks, but I remember the name now that I thought of it' _Youko paused for a moment to help with searching for the book on the shelf.

'_How do you know it's here then?' _Kurama askedhelping to search for the book.

For a moment Youko didn't reply '_I don't actually, you could say though that I have a feeling its here. Anyway back to my story, when I was caught by this demon I thought I was going to die. I know I am pretty darn powerful, but when I attempted to get that book I knew the risks with this demon. He was one of the more powerful ones. He had told me that the book was useless and that I could take it if I really wanted it'_.

Kurama stared at the books thinking of Youko's tale _'Then why didn't you take it if he was going to give it to you?'_

'_He had mentioned to me that the weapon that I was searching for was no longer obtainable, it was destroyed, also that the book which had been able to tell me the secrets of it would be useless now. Thankfully the demon did not kill me on the spot since he got a sick sense of joy out of my misfortune' _Youko finished his tale.

'_What was this weapon that you wanted then?' _He asked the fox.

'_It was a legendary sword that I had wanted called Tokijin, it had been broken before I had come along. I thought that if I could find the pieces and find the book about it. I could then use the sword. That was before I knew that the pieces were destroyed.' _Youko answered the question. _'Check it out' _He spoke allowing Kurama to study an empty space between two larger books. There seemed to be a space that used to hold a book.

'_That's odd Youko; it seems that every book is in place, why would one be missing?' _

The fox didn't respond but looked to where there was a small space _'Odd indeed' _he mentioned softly.

"Fox" A voice responded cutting through the thin air in the room.

Quickly Kurama turned around to see a tall man; his almost white hair was pulled back to keep it from his suit. It was Kagome's brother.

Kurama straitened up from his crouched position. "Hello" he responded studying the man.

Sesshomaru did nothing but stand there "I figure you were looking for this fox" he mentioned casually motioning to the book he had clutched in his right hand.

This time when he went to speak Youko slipped through for a moment. "I guess you are the Sesshomaru that I remember from the past" Youko responded through. Kurama didn't respond but let Youko have his moment.

Sesshomaru did nothing but open the book and look at it "So disappointing even in your next life you still cannot take what is mine, it's pathetic actually" he replied closing the book with a 'thump'. "It is odd that your hair changed colors so drastically fox".

"Actually I am still in my first life, thank you very much". This time when Youko stopped speaking Kurama pushed him to the back of his mind.

"Explain yourself" Sesshomaru commanded placing the book down on one of the wooden tables.

This time when Kurama spoke there was no hint of Youko's smugness "Youko actually shares a body with me, his soul in some way possessed me" he answered "That's the best way to explain it I guess. I am guessing you are the Sesshomaru that Youko has been speaking of, a demon" Kurama replied.

Sesshomaru didn't say anything but did nod his head to the comment showing that he had heard the explanation. "Interesting" he merely replied thinking of something for a instant. "I suggest you leave this area, it's not for…" Sesshomaru trailed off for a moment to glare upon the redhead "commoners".

'_God even after all these years he is still a bastard' _Youko yelled in Kurama's mind.

Ignoring the fox he spoke "Excuse us, Miss. Kagome actually gave her consent to allow us in here" Kurama responded for both he and Youko.

Sesshomaru didn't say anything but merely picked the book back up and walked to the far side of the library. When the massive demon reached the fireplace his stone face gave a quick glance to Kurama. "I see" he replied throwing the book into the fireplace.

The edges of the book started to turn black from the flames snapping at it. The old yellowish pages caught the flame and carried it across the rest of the book. All that was heard was the low chuckle coming from the demon lord.

"I guess you will never get that book now fox. Sad isn't it, two attempts at the same object, and yet you failed both times. Its hard to believe people called you a legendary thief." He spoke walking from the fireplace to the two double doors his long legs carried him across the floor silently "more like a petty burglar" he gave his dark chuckle as he exited the double doors leaving Kurama once alone once again in the massive room.

'_He is a bastard isn't he?' _Kurama asked Youko once they were alone.

He could feel Youko fuming within, 'He_ is so much worse than a bastard, god I hate him!' _

Kurama thought for a moment. Since this Sesshomaru had been a demon lord, or might even be one now, why would Kagome be related to him?

'_Tell me more about this Sesshomaru, or at least what you remember of him' _

'_Actually Kurama I don't remember much, only that he is a very strong demon. He probably would win against me in a fight; he had been a lord of The Western Lands back in the past before the barrier was set up to split demon world and this one. I don't actually know why he is here in this world, but we have an entire library to find that information. I say we do a little late night studying'_.Youko spoke to his counterpart, this was something that was starting to swirl his curiosity.

'_So where shall we start them?' _Kurama asked Youko. He glanced around the library for a moment.

'_Hm choices choices' _Youko moaned _'Lets start where we left off hm?' _

Kurama turned back around to the empty space and studied the book which was next in the row. "Well I think this can work" Kurama spoke allowed looking at the book.

* * *

She couldn't sleep; just a while ago Sesshomaru had visited her to explain the situation of Kouga. That whole dilemma resulted in half of his office torn to shreds and words or growls that were thrown at each other.

"Too bad I missed it" Kagome chuckled looking to her ceiling. She was a lot happier that Sesshomaru had lowered her punishment, she had to spar with him at seven now.

She had also found out about what Kouga was going to tell her on the phone before he was interrupted. Both Sesshomaru and Kouga were working on a business deal for something. She never got in the middle of the companies, it wasn't her thing.

They were going to dinner tomorrow to discuss it along with her new dig, and Kouga suggested having her tag along. She glanced to the clock to see the red flashing numbers show it was around midnight. "I guess technically it's today" Kagome mumbled rolling off to the one side of her bed to sit up, no way she was going to get to bed right now.

Of course she asked to bring Hiro along, since he was not originally invited by Kouga, for obvious reasons. Rin wouldn't be that interested in everything, and she would probably have friends to hang out with anyway. Kurama would also have to find something else to do then since he was not in the family.

"Sess told me he was still in the library a while ago, maybe I should check it out" Kagome mentioned softly to herself. Quietly as she could she stood from her bed and slipped some simple flat sandals to cover her feet. Her pajamas weren't anything she would need to change; a simple form fitting shirt and long cotton pants were acceptable enough.

Kagome walked to the door and very quietly she shut it once she got into the hall. The moonlight could be seen from the windows down the long hallway. The soft glow of the light was spread along the marble floor making it look almost angelic.

Her soft footsteps echoed while she walked to the library. _'I bet at dinner there is going to be so much drama' _Kagome thought while she walked. She knew that they would be talking about a lot of the past, which wasn't such a happy subject for any of them. Hiro was probably the least effected by the whole thing. He was usually the optimistic one of the bunch.

Deep within her thoughts Kagome had failed to notice that she was standing outside of the doors leading to the library. Without thinking too much she walked into the library calmly. Some of the lights were on and a few strewn books lingered on several desks.

Kurama was in a far corner sitting at a desk reading something in an exceedingly large book.

She just stared at him until he noticed her presence, which wasn't more than a few seconds later. When he did notice her, his face rose to glance to her, is red hair was a bit tangled and his green eyes held a questioning look, as if to understand what she was thinking. Then it changed to a look of understanding as he smiled at her.

"I thought you were heading off to sleep a while ago" he stated towards her.

She nodded her head and walked closer to where Kurama was sitting, she noticed he closed the book when she got close enough. "Yeah" she replied, when he looked to her still she decided to elaborate "I was talking with Sesshomaru for a while, then I decided to come see if you got any of your research done" she mentioned leaning over the desk that he was currently using.

Kagome tilted her neck to get a glance at the book he was reading, it had no title so she was unable to recognize the older book. "Find anything interesting?" she asked casually.

Kurama looked at her again, his green eyes studying her for some reason. "I did actually" he mentioned softly. When she glanced to him within her eyes held confusion. "I found out who Sesshomaru exactly is" Kurama replied.

At this sentence Kagome turned away for a moment to look behind her to the fireplace. "And what exactly did that detail?" she asked quietly.

Opening the page of the book he found a picture of Sesshomaru, obviously the picture was drawn from sometime in the past. "I know he used to be the Western Lord back about 500 years ago" Kurama responded, Kagome though had yet to glance away from the fireplace. He followed her gaze; she wasn't looking directly at the fireplace, something beside it though.

When the comment was said, all she could do was chuckle, a hollow sound escaped. "I was actually wondering how long it was going to take you" she mentioned softly. She glanced away from where she was watching to look at the page he had opened too. "Sesshomaru still holds the title of the Western Lord, but he does not enforce it too much" she replied. "Actually he enforces it a lot to demons" at this she did let a real laugh escape.

"So why are you staying here with him" Kurama responded, no way she could be so close to this Sesshomaru and not know about demons. Then with her books stating about demons, even Nick knew about them.

"Well that's quite a long story actually" she laughed, she brought her hand up to flip a piece of hair that was out of place "I actually would rather hear about your demon life Kurama" she mentioned softly, still playing with the piece of hair. Something she occasionally did when she was either bored or uncomfortable.

"I should have known you knew more about me than I had thought" Kurama chuckled, earning a small smile from her. "I'm disappointed that I cannot hear your story".

Kagome let go of her hair and sat in one of the old wooden chairs making it creak slightly. "It's a part of my past I don't like to visit often" she sighed "I can tell you that both myself and Rin know about demons. Sesshomaru of course is a demon lord, then Hiro is also a demon" she replied, "I am guessing that Nick said something to you to tip you off about all this demon stuff" Kagome heaved a laugh, there was no humor about it though "He told me you were a demon; I had my suspicions from before that though".

"I see" Kurama said closing the book once again "Well I hope to hear your story soon then".

Kagome just took a small glance to his green eyes; they were shining under the poor lighting. "You might" she answered tilting her eyes down once again to look at a book that was resting in another chair not that much further away.

"Just answer me one thing" Kurama replied leaning closer to the dark haired girl. They both sat next to each other, the chairs itself were flush with the other. He could almost feel her body heat that was radiating off of her. His face was far enough away from her that is was comfortable, it was border lining uncomfortable though.

Her eyes that were caste down for a moment slowly rose. Her chocolate eyes with a hint of blue swirling within them glanced back to his. Her skin looked pale from the moonlight that was shining from the window behind him.

Her tongue came out to wet her lips before she said anything. Her pink lips barely opened while she spoke "And that would be?" she asked almost in a whisper.

Kurama grinned slightly showing off his white teeth; his smile showed that whatever he was about to say would entertain him at least. "Are you a demon?" he chucked once his question came out, small puffs of hot air escaped while he laughed quietly.

At this Kagome smiled showing off her perfect teeth "No" she spoke shaking her head slightly "I might as well be one though" Kagome said just as quietly, at his questioning glance though she continued "I have done just as much as any demon, even though I am human I should probably be classified as a demon" she explained.

When Kurama looked to understand the answer she decided to ask one of her own "So" she spoke snapping him from his thoughts to look to her. At this Kagome leaned a little closer to him, they were still at least a foot away but it was close enough to notice "When can I hear your tale?" she asked him.

Now they the questions were turned Kurama smiled "Where would you like me to start?" he asked bringing up a hand to brush a small piece of hair from his shoulder.

"From the beginning would be an excellent choice" she replied, Kagome brought her legs up from the floor to rest in the chair, she curled up like she was a little girl getting ready to listen to an amazing bedtime story.

At this Kurama started his story of the fox thief Youko, about his partner Kuronue, about different objects he had stolen. He even decided to explain to her about how Sesshomaru played a part in his life. The tale grew more and more detailed as he spoke of the difficulties of failed attempts at his missions, one resulting in him escaping to a human while the mother was still pregnant resulting in Shuuichi. Kagome sat still and listened to the story up till the dark hours of night as he spoke of his past life as Youko Kurama.

* * *

**Reviewers!**

**HelKat**- Lol yeah Youko's mind works in such odd ways… I think he kind of makes up for a lot of that within this chapter though!

**Bloodcherry**- Thanks so much for your review! I love hearing from you! Anyway I am really sorry I haven't been updating… college and all that… blah... and spring classes too! Wow too much… still no excuse though. Youko plays a huge part in this chapter I think. I showed more of his mature side, which is something you don't see too much, it was a lot of fun writing Youko with such a seriousness to him.

**yume tsuki kitsune**- This update was even longer than last times! So sorry!! Anyway, yeah Kurama wasn't kicked out… It would have been kind of funny though if Sesshomaru did throw him out. Haha, thanks for the review.

**Kagome Lady of Darkness**- I really loved your review, thanks!

**Dark Kit**- Yeah Kurama in Sesshomaru's place is funny to me… Something I really like is how I portrayed Sesshomaru, a lot of people make him really nice or something… I want him to be freaking rude and arrogant. Haha! I think he is the best character to write for some reason, he is just so fun.

**Hell Chaos Angel**- Sorry again I never updated in months… blah… Anyway I don't like storied that rush a relationship, I took a big step in this one… for those who noticed the sexual tension at the end… whoo it could have been cut with a knife. Hotness, haha, we will have to wait and see how much longer till some real romance happens.

_**Yay! My first flame kind of… I wanted to post the whole comment to help explain it a little better. **_

**The Jade Sabre-**

_Couple issues with your story:_

_1) 23 and a lead archaeologist, no way. You need a Ph.D. to get a lead excavation position. Hell, you need a Ph.D. to work on a dig period. Who is funding her reasurch?_

_2) the Desert is an amazing perservative so there would be tons of evidence._

_still, more realistic than most stories_

Okay first off, you don't have to be a Ph.D. to lead an excavation if you have money to run on… and also the person who is funding her is Sesshomaru, who owns a major business. I state that somewhere around chapter 8.

Also yes the Desert is a great preservation place, the desert itself doesn't preserve a lot of the artifacts, take for example. The Egyptians made a lot of the sculptures to last forever. So they made them without opened areas and they kept the figures very tight together. Pottery like I used in my story is not usually preserved well, 70 of pottery that could be uncovered is too broken to really be repaired to its full piece.

Besides my story takes place in Mali, which isn't completely desert, it is somewhat grassland, I altered it a little to make it work into my story. The Tellems and Tuareg are real people and I shifted it a little to fit into my story.


	13. All Out in the Open

Hello everyone! I'm back! A relatively quick update on my part I think, and with college exams last week and this upcoming week wow!

Also I have a disclaimer for this chapter; I do not own the restaurant "Apicius".

Lindsey

* * *

**Chapter 13: All Out in the Open**

It was in the early hours of the morning that her alarm went off and got her up at the first light. She was currently waiting in the sparring area waiting for Sesshomaru. Usually he was never late for anything; but he had some extra stuff to handle this morning at the company.

Kagome laid facing up on one of the benches to the far side of the room. She dressed casual for her sparring with Sesshomaru; a simple exercise outfit was acceptable.

"Boring" she mumbled staring to the ceiling of the massive room. In areas of the ceiling glass was placed in to let more light in. Dawn was slowly making its way across the sky as she watched the colors turn from a midnight blue to now a vivid orange and dark blue.

As she looked she thought about the night she had with Kurama, he told her of everything about Youko Kurama, it seemed though he was still hiding something from her. _'I can seriously tell we had a connection last night though'_ Kagome thought, her face held a relaxed appearance; she gave a small smile thinking of the previous night with the fox demon. Kagome paused for a moment and realized what she was thinking; she shook her head slightly to ward off the thoughts. "I shouldn't be thinking of things like this, I'm not the fifteen year old girl with a crush I once was" she spoke to herself.

"That is correct" a man's voice clearly spoke from the opposite end of the room.

This time Kagome gave a bright smile, but she didn't move from her position on the bench though "Which part?"

She could hear him walking closer to her; Sesshomaru's face appeared over her form and blocked her view out the window above her. His pale face glowed in the morning hours, "Both" he answered, his voice answered harshly while his face stayed calm regardless of the tone.

Kagome smiled but never moved as he looked at her "I can accept I'm no longer fifteen but how do you know what I was thinking?" she asked.

His answer was simple "Because I know you" he replied moving away from her to allow her to get up.

Kagome silently sat up and looked up to Sesshomaru standing proudly as he always looked. "Can you read minds or something now?" she continued their playful banter, even if it was one sided.

He did nothing but turn away from her and walked to the side of the room where various weapons were lined up. "He is a pathetic excuse for a demon" Sesshomaru spoke as he grabbed two swords from the lineup.

She watched him for a moment, Kagome stood and stretched to get ready for a practice with Sesshomaru. "You can read minds, but I think you interpreted wrong" she replied as he turned around with two swords in hand. "I thought quite the opposite" she gave a small giggle as he glared at her.

Sesshomaru handed her the smaller sword that he held, "A pest is what he is" he spoke turning from her to stand a bit farther away.

When Kagome received the sword she groaned _'He always had to think swords were the best weapon'_ she thought. Sesshomaru made it his job to teach anyone how to use the sword, it wasn't her weapon but he always enforced it. "So where is Jaken? I haven't seen him around" she commented.

"He is currently in America watching over an investment for me" He replied calmly to her. Kagome nodded her head a quick moment to show she had understood him.

She then got into a defense stance while he stood there watching her. She gave a small nod to him to show she was ready to begin, and with that he charged at her, no where near the speed he could do though. Regardless of her unusual lack of aging, she was still a human.

She knew weapons of course, and her priestess powers, but her skill for those weren't up to demon level. As quickly as she could she blocked Sesshomaru's sword with her own, his power pushed her back slightly causing her sword to lose an inch from where she blocked him.

Using what she knew she escaped the standstill, she took a swipe at the demon. Which he of course dodged her attempt. "I hate this," she rumbled out as he forced her to take a step back as his sword came at her.

Sesshomaru's face changed when a small smile graced his stone face, "I know" he replied casually as he forced her once again to fall back like she did before.

This time she felt anger and she took a step forward casing him to step back slightly, there would never be a way she could ever beat him in a match, but it was a victory to her if she could get the upper hand with Sesshomaru.

He took a swipe at her once more, Kagome quickly jumped as far back as she could. Both of them glared at each other in the standstill, a few yards between them.

She looked to him curiously when Sesshomaru actually started to chuckle, if she could call it that, a thick rumbling sounded closer to what she heard.

Kagome tried to understand why he would be so amused when she noticed the cold air on her stomach. She took a moment to glance down and see a sharp cut in her clothing from below her right breast to her left hip. The cut went through her over jacket and her small tight shirt underneath, there looked to be no cut on her skin though. Sesshomaru was very precise in his swordsmanship.

"That wasn't very nice" she mumbled under her breath, Kagome reached down with one hand to study the cut, she wouldn't be able to sew this, might as well buy a new one. _'Bingo shopping, Rin would love this' _

"Women and clothing I'll never understand it" Sesshomaru's baritone voice responded.

Kagome pulled her attention from the slice to glare at him, "This coming from a man who needs two walk-in closets" she spoke "That is pathetic".

Sesshomaru ignored her as he charged her again making her fall in surprise, he stood over her and pointed his sword to her throat; her weapon forgotten in her hand "I win" he answered.

"No use in arguing, I surrender to you my lord" was all Kagome said, her face was void of emotion but her voice was a completely different thing, she was having a hard time trying not to laugh as she called him 'lord'.

Sesshomaru held his position for a moment longer and shook his head at the girl "Sad" he mumbled taking the weapon from her neck "At least you faired better than last time" Sesshomaru replied reaching a hand down to the small girl and helping her up.

Kagome nodded her head to the demon to show she heard his compliment. "What's on your agenda for today?" she asked him calmly.

Sesshomaru turned around from her so she was now looking to his back "I have some meetings to get to later on today with the wolf, I already know what is happening with the dig, so no need for me to go there" he replied "Nothing special".

"I see" Kagome responded, her voice held a lingering question behind it.

He turned silently to look back to the petite girl "why?" was all he asked her.

Kagome just shrugged as she walked past him to the weapons stand "I thought we were going to have a family dinner tonight" she mentioned smiling.

"Define 'family'" he stated placing his own weapon back where it had been before.

She looked to him for a moment before answering "Hiro, Kouga, you, myself. I would like if Kurama could join".

"No" his thick voice replied.

Kagome walked away from him to grab her backpack she had brought down with her "and why not? I think it will be fun" she replied.

Sesshomaru didn't say anything for a moment and she had to turn around to see if he was still even in the room "For one reason" he replied before continuing "Our family is insane".

"All the more fun" Kagome said sitting on one of the benches watching the cold demon in interest.

"The wolf I could tolerate to a point, the tiger is a different story all together"

Kagome cocked her head to the side slightly "and of 'The fox'?" she asked using his way of referring to people.

"He is not family" The dog demon replied walking over to Kagome.

"Kurama and Hiro really got along though, and it sounded like Kouga wanted to meet him as well" her voice was carefree as she spoke. "Kurama is playing a big part of the new site, so he is going to be with us for a while".

The demon glared at her for a moment, his eyes bore into hers in a staring contest of sorts. "Apicius at 8:30 tonight" he replied before striding out the door leaving her there.

Kagome smiled brightly, Apicius was a restaurant that was one of the nicest places to eat around, only a select few were able to visit the restaurant. That included important demons and people were affiliated with them. It was owned by a demon that knew Sesshomaru; she had never seen the owner though. He preferred to stay hidden most of the time. The food was amazing, and the service was perfect though.

Their own little 'family' ate there often, since it was Sesshomaru's favorite place. A private dining room, and wine cellar was owned by Sess there, it didn't hurt that he was a Lord either; it had its perks.

"At least I'm eating well tonight" She replied grabbing for her bad once again and walked happily out of the sparring room.

* * *

"This is the new place?" Kurama asked Kagome when they pulled up to the open area.

Most of the people who were in Mali could be seen walking around the massive landscape. This was to be the new dig site, before they could start anything though; they needed to get everything settled and plans made on how to go about the whole process.

"Yup" Kagome answered turning the car off and unlocking the car doors. Both of them jumped out of the car to see everyone setting up tents or carrying equipment.

"Nick!" Kagome yelled to the Australian who was directing orders, he held a clipboard in his hands along with a pen.

He turned around and smiled at the two before turning back to someone he was speaking to. After giving his last order he turned and walked to where Kagome and Kurama were. "G'day you two" he greeted both of them.

"Hey" Kurama simply replied while Kagome gave a small nod of her head.

"So what's the status now?" Kagome asked him as they glanced to where most of the action was. People were running with tools or boxes to various tents that were already set up.

"It's coming along, we arrived this morning with most of the supplies, and so we went right from the airport here to set up. We had some police here earlier though, Sesshomaru had come and dropped off all the permits, so everything's good." Nick mentioned.

Kagome took a second to process everything that Nick had said "Alright then" she mentioned to him "Since everything is running smoothly right now I will just go make some preparations for tomorrow then" Kagome spoke to the Australian. Turning away from him she looked to Kurama "You will be helping me with this part okay?" she asked him.

'_Yes we get to help her!' _Youko could be heard in his head. It was too bad really, the fox had been quiet for so long.

'_That's the point in having a mentor'_ Kurama mentioned obviously annoyed with the simple comment from Youko.

"Kurama" Kagome's voice broke him from his thoughts; startled he glanced to her to see her frowning. "Yes?" he asked her ignoring Youko that was still complaining.

Kagome looked at him, studying his face almost if she could read his thoughts. He had also noticed that Nick had disappeared off to somewhere, probably to get work done.

"He bothering you?" she asked calmly, still studying him.

'_What the hell is she talking about?' _Youko's voice invaded his thought process once again, this time he focused on the conversation that really mattered.

"Who?" he calmly asked, still trying to rid the thoughts from the certain fox that wouldn't shut up. It didn't help that Kagome spoke in almost fragments. Almost like how Sesshomaru spoke most of the time; or lack of. _'It didn't help that she lives with him either, they are bound to start talking similarly'. _

"Youko of course" she mentioned turning away from him, "come on lets go, we need to check out the mapping".

Calmly Kurama walked beside her as they both walked to her tent, similar to the one she had in Mali. When they both entered he took a moment to see that indeed most of her charts and various tools were already there, including her large table in the center. He strode into the room along with Kagome. Instantly she got to work looking for the correct map.

"Nick said Hiro had a map for me somewhere in here" she mentioned to Kurama as she picked up a high stool to stand on.

"So how did you know it was Youko that was bugging me?" he asked her calmly from his spot leaning against the table, it still startled him that she accepted his counterpart so easily. She was currently stepping up onto the stool to reach a rolled up piece of paper at the top of one of her shelves, it was a lot newer than most of the others. Probably just made for the new dig site.

"Because I can't think of any other demons that might possess you," she joked turning slightly to glance to him. "Is he still bugging you?" she asked turning back to trying to reach the map.

At that comment Kurama laughed, "Sadly yes" he answered her.

She laughed for a moment turning to look at him before speaking again "Can he hear me right now?" only receiving a nod of his head in response she continued "Youko I need Kurama's mind here for a while, you can have him back when I'm done" then Kagome went back to reaching for the paper.

"Youko said that he will only listen to you since you have a cute ass" he mentioned, giving her the message.

When Kagome did grab the paper she heard the comment, "What?!" she turned sharply making her lose her balance on the tall stool. As the stool fell out from under her Kurama having his quick reflexes grabbed her from around her waist and pulled her against him.

"You need to be more careful" Kurama replied, his face near hers.

Kagome looked to Kurama "Youko should be more respectful" she whispered though Kurama could hear it; she looked to Kurama's green eyes "he should be more like you". Both gazed at each other for a moment before breaking the glances.

At this Kurama let her go, allowing her to stand on her feet "I think we're more similar than I thought" he answered at her questioning look he clarified "Youko and I".

Kagome glanced up to him in curiosity "How is that?" she asked him.

The red head only smiled at her "because I found myself thinking that very same comment Youko stated only moments ago". Kurama gave one more glance to her "you do indeed have a cute ass" he said before looking to where she was reaching moments before "I'll get it" he responded grabbing the fallen stool and set it back up.

She turned silently to look the other way from the redhead. _'I can't believe he said that' _she thought, for some reason she felt, almost giddy. Kagome took a moment to calm herself by taking a breath, and exhaling before grabbing her bag that was by her feet. She let it on the table as Kurama set the map beside it.

"So what do we have here?" he asked spreading the large piece of rolled paper out.

Kagome placed some weights at the corners to keep it flat; an unfinished map was shown in front of them. "Hiro got the basic concept of our area, but I asked him if we could finish it today" Kagome replied grabbing for a pencil "Don't tell Hiro this" she started to say "but he is not the best with maps, and numbers".

"So we are basically going to re-due all of his work" Kurama clarified.

Kagome grabbed a sheet of paper and wrote a few numbers on it "Yeah basically we are. The map will not be as good as the one in Mali, but when we're done it will be a whole lot better than this thing." She motioned to the poorly drawn map that Hiro had worked on. "Usually I have more time to prepare than what we have"

"How are we going to go about this then?" he asked her.

Kagome grabbed her notebook and went to the corner of the room to retrieve something "We can use this" she said picking up the large case she was carrying. The heavy thing was lifted up onto the table then opened when Kurama undid the clasps on it. Inside were several pieces of what looked like some sort of tool.

"I think I know what this is" he replied lifting the old tripod out of the case while she grabbed the other piece to put it on top of it.

"Yeah this way it will be easier for us to measure the height of the ground. Have you used one?" she asked him once they had it completely assembled.

"No" he answered her question; she motioned him to take the tool as she went to get a tall object in the corner of the room. It looked to be almost like a measuring stick.

"Okay basically you will hold this," she said referring to the stick she held. "I will look through that," Kagome pointed to the tool Kurama held, "I can then see exactly the measurement is on the stick, then when you move down the hill or whatever the measurement will change." Kagome explained quickly, when she looked to Kurama he looked back to her with a confused look. "You know what I'll just show you" she responded grabbing her notebook as he grabbed the heavier objects.

* * *

"Hey Kurama don't move and keep it strait!" Kagome yelled from her position across the field.

'_You know what?' _Youko replied.

Kurama straitened the pole he was holding _'I don't care'_. So far Youko had been talking with him while he helped Kagome with all the measurements of the land.

'_Well I'm going to tell you._ _I think Kagome is so hot, and she's feisty' _He replied making Kurama roll his eyes.

'_You need to learn some new vocabulary'. _

'_It doesn't matter, it's true' _Youko said softly, he was even more engrossed into her. She wasn't like any other female he had ever met _'Also I think you scored some bonus points on that comment about her ass' _Youko mentioned again, this time getting excited that his counterpart wasn't a pansy.

'_God don't remind me, I made a complete fool of myself. I can imagine you saying that comment, but me? I'm shocked she didn't press sexual harassment charges against us.' _Kurama told his counterpart.

'_Oh please Red, I know what she wants, can't you tell by the way she talks to us? She is so in love with us'_

'_Your stuck in my head, I hardly see how you know what she wants' _Kurama responded.

"I think we're good" Kagome replied walking up to him.

They had been working for hours to remake the topographic map so it would be more efficient later on. It was warm out and they had been standing in the sun all day, so he was thankful to have it all done.

"Anything else needing to be done?" he asked her.

Kagome thought for a moment, her hand coming up to wipe the hair out of her face. "I don't think so, unless you want to ask Nick if he needs anything done".

Kurama shook his head, he couldn't believe he was going to listen to Youko for once "I think I'm good" he told her "Besides, Nick isn't as good to look at as you" he said it. He could hear Youko laughing in his head, or cheering him on. It was hard to tell actually.

Kagome looked to him, borderline of shock plastered across her face, then once she realized what he said she smiled "I heard foxes were very…" she trailed off to really look at his face "flirtatious" she replied, a grin spreading across Kurama's face. "I never really thought that it was true" she added.

"It helps that there is a pretty women to join in" he responded to her soft banter.

Kagome gave a bright smile "You doing anything tonight?" she asked him picking up her backpack and him grabbing the heavier equipment.

"No not really, since you allowed me to stay at your home I was just going to get some reading done," he told her.

"You see" she started "I wanted to go out to dinner with 'The Family' and I thought it would be fun if you came along" she told him once they grabbed what they needed.

Kurama gave a smile "Who consists of this so called 'family'?" he asked her while they walked back to the tent to drop off what they had.

She gave him a look "A lot of really… really odd people" her voice sounded uncertain which Kurama caught onto.

"It can't be that bad can it? I'm sure your exaggerating" Kurama replied shifting the tripod he carried to his other shoulder.

"No its bad" she replied to his comment "You don't know the other person who will be coming, but Sesshomaru and Hiro will both be there".

"That is bad" he gave a deep laugh in amusement.

"Yeah it is," she laughed softly. Then the conversation between them grew quiet.

They both walked past a few trees and he took the moment to glance to the brunette next to him. She was looking to one of the massive trees, so she was distracted from his lingering eyes. The time was way past Noon, causing the sun to caste shadows from everything in its path.

She was studying her surroundings, he couldn't tell of what she was thinking, it had to have been important to captivate her like that. "How shall I dress then?" he asked her, causing her to snap her head back around to look to him.

"What?" she asked tipping her head to the side in a questioning manner.

At this he decided to elaborate "How shall I dress for dinner tonight? Formal? Casual?"

"Formal if you have anything, Sesshomaru only eats out at the best places," she mentioned as they walked a smile now lingering on her face.

Kurama only nodded as they walked back to the tent, most of the people who were running around getting things organized were now lounging about and sleeping off the jetlag. He walked into the tent after Kagome and set the stuff on the large table.

"I think I have something," he stated placing the tools away as she packed up her notebook.

Kagome nodded as she zipped up her backpack. "I think we have just enough time to get ready," she said grabbing her backpack and lifting it on her shoulder.

Kurama only nodded as he returned all of the stuff they had laying out. "I'm ready," he said walking to the exit behind her.

* * *

She glanced to her full-length mirror in her room; her long deep red gown swept the ground when she walked. It was one of her favorite dresses to wear. The deep scarlet color looked best on her for some reason; it was simple which looked nice. The dress' strap hung on one shoulder as the other one look bare. Making it so the dress didn't cut too low in the front, it looked elegant. She left her hair down and she put a small amount of make-up on, nothing overly extensive.

Currently Sesshomaru was somewhere in his personal office getting some last minute things done, Kouga had yet to show, Hiro was playing with Rin somewhere, and Kurama was in his room probably getting ready for dinner.

'_It's only fair he knows' _she thought grabbing a diamond bracelet off her dresser. They were going to let Kurama in on everything. It was only fair since he was directly involved in this whole ordeal. Besides he had told her about Youko and his past life as a thief.

Kagome snapped her bracelet clasp with a 'click' she then looked to herself in the mirror. It had been an odd couple of days to say the least. It didn't help any that she was going to be spending hours upon hours at her friends' burial site.

Kagome stared at the reflection that looked back at her. She saw the girl in the mirror tilt her head, as if she was thinking of some sort of dark secret. Did she look like that? The girl in the reflection was pretty, not beautiful. Her hair was dark, not the shiny glossy that most models had. The tan skin was ordinary, not flawless and certainly not the pale skin of most people from Japan. Her body was nice, too stiff for her taste, it didn't hold the curves that most women had. She looked too immature, the girl confused and naïve. The girl's eyes, they were the most haunting visual in the reflection; the eyes were deep. Something must have happened in her past, something terrifying. Since those eyes were not ones from someone innocent, they were the eyes of someone who had seen death and caused it.

Kagome stared at the girl's eyes for a moment longer before shaking her head to divert her from the teenager in the mirror. She glanced back once more to see a beautiful lady in a crimson dress. No longer the plain girl, who had been standing in the mirror a few seconds before. No longer the girl she once was, no longer the young girl who knew nothing of the real world, the hardships.

No longer the girl who fell in love with a half demon.

"I should be over this" Kagome said taking a step back from the mirror. Her gaze lingering on her face, she took another step back trying to get away from her view shining back at her. This time her bed hit the back of her knees causing her to fall back onto the bed. Kagome reached out her hands and pushed herself up from where she fell.

"I'm happy," she whispered looking down to the fabric of her dress "I am happy" she convinced herself once again. "I'm over their deaths, I have my family, friends,…" she trailed off "I don't have Inuyasha though" she mentioned softly to her reflection in her mirror. "I never was truly happy back then," she continued with her one-sided conversation.

Kagome stood from her place on her bed; she smoothed out her dress and took one last glance in the mirror. This time she didn't see someone who had hardships, she saw a young lady who held hope for the future, maybe this dinner would benefit her also. "I need to get over my own ghosts,"she said to herself. "Gosh I'm pathetic, after so many years I should be over this".

Kagome turned and grabbed her handbag and walked to the door and walked out of her room, leaving it in the darkness. She sauntered down the hallway and stopped at the stairs. This time she could hear Kouga laughing with someone. _'Who is he laughing with? It doesn't sound like Sess'_. She thought walking down the stairs to get a better view of who could be making Kouga laugh like that.

"Kagome there you are!" A voice yelled when she got down most of the steps. She glanced to the voice to see Kouga moving away from where Kurama was.

"Kouga" she greeted him while she some of the steps. She took in his appearance, of course Kouga had to always look good "You look very handsome" she said to the wolf prince.

Kouga reached for her hand and helped her walk the rest of the stairs. "Thank you" he paused a moment to glance at her. "You look stunning Kagome," he said kissing the back of her hand before escorting her back to where Kurama was still standing.

"Hello Kurama" she replied taking in his demeanor; he sure knew how to dress for an outing. He graced their presence in a black tux looking rather gorgeous.

Kurama nodded his head as a greeting; he stared at her for a long moment before staying something "You look enchanting" his smooth voice answered.

That was one hell of a compliment.

She smiled pleased with what he said, "Thank you, and you look very charming tonight as well".

"I'm hungry" Kouga interrupted the two. Kagome dropped her arm from Kouga and turned toward him.

"That's rude Kouga" all she received was a grin from the wolf demon "We need to wait for Hiro and Sess first" she finished.

"Here I am!" A voice bellowed from the corridor. Hiro dressed in a black tux waltzed in "The God has arrived" he introduced himself to the three.

"Shut up stupid" complained Kouga crossing his arms over his chest.

Taken back from the sentence Hiro glared at Kouga "How about you shut up asshole" he countered.

"Fag" the wolf responded, getting closer to Hiro.

"Man whore"

"No, I think that's your title"

"Shut up you two!" Kagome yelled making the two pause, both inches away from killing each other. "Where is Sess now, I have a headache" she moaned tilting her head down.

Kurama who was watching the whole event entertained brought his hand up to rub her shoulder gently to sooth her. "Better?" he asked.

"Very" Kagome responded.

Hiro who had straitened his appearance commented "Sess told me that we can leave without him, he'll meet us there".

"That answers my question, to the limo!" Kouga yelled making his way to the door, Hiro following closely behind.

"Well that was interesting" Kurama pointed out, looking from where the two left back to Kagome who looked tired. "Are you alright?" he asked her.

Kagome looked to the fox demon "I'm fine, just wondering why I wanted to have a family dinner again" she laughed grabbing his arm "would you be so kind as to escort me kind sir?" she asked formally.

Kurama only smiled as he led her to where Kouga and Hiro exited. Both had already got in Sesshomaru's limo, taking shots of some kind of liquor and having some good fun. Kurama led Kagome to the vehicle and both got in, having to deal with the fighting between the two men.

Once they arrived at Apicius they got out and walked to the front of the restaurant. Hiro and Kouga had calmed down, now that they had got the fighting out of their system; hopefully. Kurama was still quietly speaking with Kagome as he led her to the door.

When the doors were open Kurama could instantly tell that most of the people dining were in fact demons. Kagome pulled him along gently to the hostess stand; the woman who was standing there looked to the four and only nodded her head. She came from around her podium and led them all to a door, which was near the back of the restaurant.

Without saying a word she took a gold key and elegantly unlocked the mahogany door, she then stepped aside and allowed them to enter the room. The room was furnished in a way to look antique-like, but still stunning. The heavily decorated walls did not look cluttered, but organized regardless of how much stuff was placed on it. There was a fireplace that was against one wall that could only be categorized as artwork, large marble like stones made up the rather large piece of work.

The round table in the center was the most exquisite object though. The wood was carved with so much detail that the person who had made it probably took a good portion of their years creating it.

Kagome led them into the room; Hiro and Kouga went to sit at their usual spots while she led Kurama to where he was to sit.

"This is usually Rin's spot, but since she isn't here you can sit there" she motioned to the seat between herself and Hiro.

Kurama nodded as he pulled her chair out for her to allow her to sit. He, himself taking his own after she was settled in hers.

"I hope Sesshomaru gets here soon, or we can't get a move on things" Kouga mumbled sipping at his glass of water.

"Be patient Kouga" Kagome calmly added. "You can start with introductions if it pleases you. I'm sure Sesshomaru wouldn't mind".

"Yeah be patient Kouga" Hiro mocked, his dry voice spoke.

"You know what?" Kouga asked getting angry.

Hiro countered just as fast "No I don't know what! I don't really care!"

Kurama watched the spectacle along with Kagome; he seemed to be enjoying it more though. "Is that why you have them separated from each other?" he asked motioning to the two men who sat across from each other at the round table.

"If they really fought I doubt a table could hold them back" she told him.

Just then the door opened to the room, in flowed a handsome male demon, his long blonde hair tied back neatly. A bottle of wine was what he had brought along. He popped the cork and started to pour the glasses for each person without saying a word as the two 'friends' still fought.

When he got to Kagome's glass Kurama noticed how he took his time, poured the glass slower, handled the bottle of wine with a noticeably gentler grasp. "Hello" he purred giving Kagome a look "I like the dress" he complimented running his eyes up then down.

At this Kurama gave a small growl deep in his throat catching Hiro, and Kouga's attention. With the new distraction they realized what they missed; Kouga was the first to say something "Get away from my woman pest" Kouga replied harshly.

'_What the hell is happening here?' _Youko complained at this new information, first some demon was basically flirting with her; then Kouga stated she was his 'woman'.

Kurama ignored Youko as he now glared at Kouga. "He doesn't mean it" he heard a voice answer, realizing it was Hiro he listened to his whispering, only audible to him since he was sitting to close to the demon.

"Kouga and Kagome used to date years ago, they are only friends though." He said. Kurama had yet to look to him mostly watching the new drama unfold "It's more of a nickname you could say. Don't worry she isn't spoken for" Hiro finished his explanation.

Kurama only nodded as took a glance to Kagome, who looked basically mortified. He watched the waiter glare at Kouga "You must be new so let me explain something for you" he said, "You don't mess with us".

"She wasn't claimed so I can do the hell as I please" the waiter said obviously making a big mistake.

"You cannot" a new voice answered, Sesshomaru strode into the room glaring at the weaker demon, Kouga had now taken his seat knowing that Sesshomaru would handle the situation now. "Now before I kill you, leave and don't ever enter this room ever again," he said, his gold eyes smoldering. "Tell the chef that Lord Sesshomaru is here, he knows who I am".

At this the waiter who was now intimidated by the newest demon left without a word shutting the door behind him.

All were silent for a moment before Hiro broke out laughing causing everyone to look at him "Kagome trouble follows you like white on rice!" he said as Sesshomaru now sat down. She looked at him shyly obviously embarrassed.

"You intelligence amazes me" Sesshomaru spoke dryly, reaching for his wine.

"Thank you!"

"That wasn't a compliment you idiot" Kouga said.

"You're the idiot" Hiro yelled at him.

"Hey Hiro?" Kouga asked only to receive a look that could only be described as 'what do you want?' "I-D-Ten-T" he said smirking.

Kagome took the roll basket as they waited for Hiro to understand. "Roll?" she asked Kurama who took one with a smile as he politely thanked her.

Sesshomaru was ignoring everyone.

"What's that mean?" he asked getting looks from everyone.

"Exactly" Kouga mentioned as he grabbed a roll off the table. Right before he reached it he heard a yell.

"I'm not an idiot; that was a mean trick!" Hiro yelled.

"Okay shut up!" Sesshomaru bellowed, this time everyone stopped what they were doing.

"Since you planned this" he spoke to Kagome "You handle conversation" he finished.

All she did was nod "I wanted to discuss what would happen tomorrow" she mentioned looking around the room. The air around them instantly grew thick. "Kurama" she included him "you know everyone here is a demon correct?" she asked him. "Well besides me of course"

"Kouga mentioned something earlier about him being one, I know about the others" he clarified for her.

"Well…" she trailed off thinking of a way to begin "You know anything about a story involving the Shikon Jewel?"

Kurama looked to the rest in the room, the demons immediately tensed, regardless how slight it was he noticed. "I know most of the story" he replied honestly looking back to Kagome.

"I had been a part of that story" she said, "So were the rest" Kagome then motioned softly to the three demons sitting around the table. "I had been the futuristic priestess in the story," Kagome explained.

Kurama just sat and listened, surprisingly Youko had been quiet, listening to the new information that was flowing around the room. "I know only of the basics of the story, I know about the group that traveled. About the jewel mostly" he clarified.

Kagome only nodded as she gracefully reached for the glass of wine to take a sip "I had traveled about 500 years into the past and joined a group to defeat an evil" she summarized.

"Naraku correct?" he asked her, getting a nod from her as his only response.

"Seeing as you know most of it I'll skip most of the boring parts" this time Kagome chucked lightly.

"The best part was when I met Kagome" Kouga had replied, now entering the tale "It was quite amusing to see Inuyasha act like that" Kouga laughed only to be cut short by a flying roll that was thrown at his head. Ignoring it Kouga reached for Kagome's hands "It was when I noticed how incredible beautiful Kagome was" he spoke, this time Kagome only smiled and gently pulled her hands from his.

"Yes, well…" she said as she continued her story "I met Kouga and Sesshomaru early in my travels. Kouga was a wolf demon prince who we met quite often, on a few accounts he had kidnapped me. Then Lord Sesshomaru tried to kill me numerous times, he was the half-brother of…well a half-brother of a demon in our group," she spoke.

Kurama glanced to Sesshomaru; the stoic face still graced his features. Kurama looked a bit closer and noticed a hint of sadness looming around him.

"We are uncovering the final battle at the dig correct?" Kurama asked her, Youko helping to connect the pieces together. _'That's why she was so sad earlier in the woods'_ the fox demon joined in.

Kagome didn't answer for a moment "Yes we are, excuse me for a moment" Kagome said getting up from her chair and walking out of the room.

Kurama looked from the door she exited to around the room, Hiro had his head lowered, obviously thinking of something. Sesshomaru was acting like his normal self; Kouga was the only one to speak up though.

"Kagome was in love with a half demon in the past; Sesshomaru's brother" Kouga spoke.

"Half-brother actually" Sesshomaru coldly replied to the wolf, he was leaning back in his chair; his white hair flowed over the back of the furniture.

Kouga acknowledged his request "Half-brother" he stressed, "well, Inuyasha in the end fell in love with Kagome".

"He had previously loved a bitch named Kikyo, who later died after guarding the jewel" Sesshomaru took over telling the story. "She was resurrected with part of Kagome's soul".

"Her soul?" Kurama asked, _'I have heard that to be excruciatingly painful' _Youko mentioned softly, sympathetic towards the woman of their affections.

"Yes anyway, later on before the final battle the bitch had finally passed resulting in Kagome regaining her soul. During the battle Inuyasha died protecting her" Sesshomaru said.

"The man she loved?" Kurama asked putting the pieces together.

This time Kouga spoke "Yeah, Kagome feels somewhat… guilty for his death. She thinks that she could have prevented it somehow" Kouga was suddenly cut off; the door opened.

Kagome stepped in and gracefully took her seat once again; no one spoke as she was settled. "I'm fine" she answered their looks.

"Tomorrow we are to deal with certain things at the site" for the first time since starting this new conversation Hiro replied.

"Yes in the final battle with Naraku, we never actually… killed him" Kagome mentioned, she brought her hands up to brush her hair behind her shoulder.

"I thought he had died, that's what all the legends mention" Kurama commented, not understanding this new information.

"We couldn't kill him, we…" she trailed off thinking of how to phrase the next part "well something went wrong in the battle and we decided to ensnare Naraku instead of killing him".

"Kagome came up with the idea to subdue Naraku, since we most likely would have all died if we attempted to kill him." Sesshomaru replied taking a drink of his wine ever so gracefully. "That was why I made the trip to get Kagome and have her do the excavation back here." Sesshomaru replied.

This time Kouga spoke "We left the bastard to rest in that spot for as long as we could, humans were getting suspicious though. A large piece of land, untouched, and supposedly was historical in some sort of sense. We didn't want anyone to discover Naraku, people who knew nothing about him or demons. That would start something we are not ready for."

"We don't know how Naraku had faired either. We need to do this whole thing carefully" Hiro spoke this time, he was surprisingly quiet, maybe it was because he never played an overly large part in this tale.

"So incase something happens Kagome needed to be here?" Kurama asked looking to Kagome, she was currently looking down, her hair was casting a dark curtain blocking her face form his view. "What kind of thing?" he asked her.

She spoke gently, her voice strong with passion though "Incase Naraku somehow, I don't know" she said exasperated "got stronger I suppose, or the seal might have weakened" she lifted her head and her hair fell back to lean against the front of her shoulder. "I need to do whatever I can to prevent that. I might have to subdue him once again if somehow he escapes".

Kagome paused for a moment before speaking once again "We aren't entirely sure if I can do that though. My powers have been growing weaker over the years." She looked to Kurama "I know this is a large thing to ask you" she started "but if it comes to the point that…" she trailed off unable to finish her sentence "We might need help and with you being Youko Kurama and all, so if you wouldn't mind…"

All was silent as the door opened once again and several servers entered the room with the meal. Kagome's face held a small sad smile. Kouga and Sesshomaru acted as though nothing had happened, and everyone was in a casual conversation only seconds before. Hiro was the only one visibly troubled over the whole thing.

Kurama though sat there, a blank look upon his face as his meal was placed in front of him. _'We will help'_ was all he thought, only receiving a grunt of agreement from Youko. Kurama reached under the table to hold the distraught woman's hand.

When she felt someone grab her hand she looked to Kurama who was smiling ever so slightly. This time she returned his smile with one of her own, both he and Youko were along for the ride.

Everyone would do all they could.

* * *

**Reviews! (Most likely long too, lol I was in a writing mood tonight)**

A before thought before I do reviews (I would appreciate anyone who reads this). I had read someone's story a few weeks ago and something really bugged me about it. The person who wrote each chapter updated depending on how many reviews they receive. Also they made the length of each chapter depending on the numerous reviews. In the end they abandoned the story because it wasn't popular enough.

It got me thinking about myself as a writer. I thought about what really mattered when I would write a story. I came up with the answer a few days later. I write for myself and no one else (a little selfish isn't it, haha) but I noticed I don't write for my readers, I make the story go as I would like it to, it entertains me just as much as any reader. The readers inspire me to just write faster!

When I start writing a new chapter, I have no idea what will happen next! That's what makes it amazing, when you read one of my stories; you are reading what I would love to happen. I love the people who love my story, they like reading the same things as I and I would love to talk with them.

I just don't believe in authors who write to gain popularity, or actually people who will abandon a story because they don't get "reviews". (If you read this, and you are going to review my story I would love to read your opinion on this)

**WhiteDemoness11**- Thank you! I don't like to rush into things in my stories, but I think this time I moved a little too quickly from friendship between Kagome and Kurama to possible romance… oops… oh well my story! Thank you so much for noticing that aspect of my story though! I work hard to develop that.

**Kagome Lady of Darkness**- You are one of my many reviewers who have been with me a long time! I love your reviews, short sweet and too the point. Hopefully I updated as quickly as you had hoped for me too! Lol

**husbandsangel**- Hello new reviewer! Thank you so much for thinking I have a wonderful story. I try my best to please all the people who read my stories.

**HelKat**- I don't exactly get what you meant by letting Youko tell his story… I guess you meant like letting Youko come out and speak with Kagome either body or voice. I'm sorry if I didn't specify as well as I could have. I tried to make it so Youko could never speak more than a few sentences without being pulled back into Kurama. If you were confused im sorry I didn't clarify better for you. Nice suggestion though!

**yusukekuramagirl**- I sort of put Kagome's reaction to his story, she accepted it pretty well I think. Who couldn't accept something like that when they traveled in time though, lol. I might do some more of Sesshomaru's reaction in the next chapter, but everything is just getting starting in this one. The relationship took a big leap in this chapter.

**DarkKitsuneAkina**- Hello my friend, thank you thank you so much. I try to make all my conversations "funny as hell" as you put it, lol. Hopefully I did not disappoint on this "funny as hell" conversations with Hiro and Kouga. Hopefully it was entertaining at least, haha.

**g2fan**- Hello Wendy! Thanks for the review, I love it when new people review, it makes me happy. Hopefully you like the new chapter as much as I did.

**BonzaiNekoNeko**- Hello there! I am so happy you think this is an excellent story! I'm sorry the whole Kurama meeting Kouga was not more entertaining for you. Shockingly Kouga kind of accepted him. I thought I would put a twist on things and make them kind of like buddies, sort of shocking everyone for the time being.


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